EVANS CITY - A heated exchange at Monday night's council meeting between Mayor Gary Foster and Councilman Jim Gloeckner was the latest volley in a dispute that began in the Evans City Post Office and was supposedly settled several days ago.

During the time usually reserved for the mayor's report, Foster, 63, who rarely speaks during meetings, said he had filed an police incident report against Gloeckner on Friday, accusing the councilman of slander and being exceptionally rude to the borough secretary, Cathy Young.

Foster, who has been mayor since 1996, said he was in the administrative office Friday afternoon and overheard a conversation between Gloeckner and Young, which began when Gloeckner walked into the office and refused to pay for a misplaced municipal code book.

According to the police report, after the exchange with Young, Foster "stepped in." Gloeckner allegedly then told Foster twice, "Well, you owe a $1,000 water bill."

"You had no right to say that. You disgraced my name," Foster said at the council meeting.

Gloeckner strenuously denied the charge.

"I said 'I heard you owe a $1,000 water bill'," Gloeckner said.

Foster replied that he never had a water bill amounting to $1,000, and an outstanding bill for $850 had been paid in full three months earlier.

The two then argued at the meeting about comments Gloeckner allegedly made about municipal employees. Foster asked Gloeckner if he would like to step outside to settle the dispute.

"Is that a threat?" said Gloeckner.

Foster left the meeting, saying he would resign.

"You will have my resignation in the morning," Foster said.

He subsequently decided not to resign.

Gloeckner could not be reached for additional comment on Tuesday.

Police Chief Joe McCombs told Gloeckner that Foster's invitation to step outside was not a threat.

"(Monday) night was kinda an overflow of what happened Friday," McCombs said.

The incident report puts the nature of the incident on the police record, but does not include any criminal charges.

During the exchange, Foster said he had received two apologies, one written and one verbal, about the bill rumor from a female employee at the Evans City Post Office.

On Tuesday, he confirmed these apologies came from Stella Neely.

George Flanigan, a communication specialist for the postal service, said Neely accidentally saw the amount of Foster's outstanding bill while she was sorting mail.

On the borough's water bills, the amount owed is printed on the same side of the notice as the address, and Neely did not open or tamper with any piece of mail.

Neely said when she learned of the amount of the bill, she asked the borough's public works director, Norm Nelson, about the matter.

"She asked me about it in the parking lot of the drug store," he said.

Nelson said he informed Foster of the question, and the two of them spoke with postmaster Dorothea Epps about the incident.

Epps said she was not allowed to comment and referred all questions to Flanigan.

Neely said she had apologized twice to Foster and that he accepted the apologies as sincere.

"I said it was unprofessional and I used poor judgment," she said.

Still in question is how Gloeckner learned of the mayor's previously outstanding water bill.

Foster said he had forgotten about the issue until the Friday afternoon exchange with the councilman.

"My name was bashed. I wish it never went this far, but I didn't do anything wrong," he said.