“Boo, hiss,” Marilyn Barnhardt shouted from the back of the council chamber — full of close to 100 people — as Anderson, the former Kannapolis mayor, placed his hand on the Bible and recited an oath to City Clerk Bridgette Bell.

“That’s a lie,” she shouted a minute later, as Anderson finished vowing to faithfully serve the city government.

When Kannapolis Police Chief Paul Brown stood up and motioned to Barnhardt, the two walked outside and talked for several minutes.

Barnhardt, an office assistant at N.C. Equipment Co. in Charlotte, was not charged. Brown later said he had not escorted her out of the building.

One of 14 people running for four seats, Barnhardt focused her campaign around halting the Westside Bypass under construction in the city’s newly annexed Coddle Creek community.

The remarks apparently didn’t bother Anderson, a retired senior production planner for Fieldcrest Cannon. Anderson said Barnhardt may have been upset because Council member Phil Meacham supported him before the election, rather than her.

“I heard her shouting, but I didn’t hear exactly what it was,“ Anderson said. “I suspect the whole scenario was that she was expecting Phil Meacham to support her. And Phil just told her that she wasn’t electable.”