Suspended Marathon City Manager Clyde Burnett was busy characterizing the central event in harassment allegations against him as a "practical joke" in an e-mail Monday morning as council members were being brought up to speed by city legal staff.

Burnett is facing allegations of stalking and harassment levied by Marathon City Clerk Diane Clavier. The alleged incident that set the wheels in motion for Clavier's harassment claims occurred while she was in Orlando last week attending a conference.

While there, her attorney alleges Clavier received calls and text messages from Burnett that she found disturbing and troubling. Sources familiar with the incident, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have told the Free Press that Burnett sent Clavier messages indicating he had traveled to Orlando to see her while she was attending a conference.

"I might have pressed it too much, but definitely no offense was meant to anyone, just a 'practical joke' as we both share with each other from time to time," Burnett wrote in an e-mail to Clavier on the morning of Oct. 19.

A prosecutor with the Monroe County State Attorney's Office says he believes he has enough evidence to open an investigation on Burnett. Whether the issue will get that far was still up in the air on Thursday.

"There is certainly enough to look into it," Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson told the Free Press on Wednesday. "My advice to the state attorney is to wait a day or two to see if some agreement between the parties is reached."

Clavier's attorney AB Maloy said on Wednesday she believed the evidence speaks for itself.

Burnett appears to defend the "practical joke" by noting that on the night in question he had attended the Marathon City Council Candidate debate held at the Marathon Government Center on Oct. 15, and afterwards went out to dinner at Annette's restaurant with Keynoter reporter Ryan McCarthy.

"[S]o you knew I couldn't have done the Orlando thing and would have recognized it as fictitious, which you did," Burnett wrote in the e-mail.

McCarthy told the Free Press that although he did happen to see Burnett at the restaurant, he did not have any planned dinner arrangements with him. Burnett was also seen at the debate earlier in the evening. Burnett apologized for the joke at the end of the e-mail.

An e-mail sent to Clavier on Oct. 18 also had an apologetic tone.

"I respectfully request a few minutes with you to clear the air, once and for all, and move on. You and I are GOOD and I just need to let you operate your department and not the City!!" Burnett wrote. "I now realize I cannot get the affiliation with you that I had hoped for."

Later in the e-mail, Burnett wrote that he needed someone to talk to daily about the various issues that go along with running a city.

"I now know you are reluctant to be this person and I need to forget about it," Burnett wrote.

Burnett's attorney, Hal Schumacher told the Free Press on Thursday morning he expected to meet with Maloy and would have some sort of statement regarding the incident issued either late Thursday or early Friday.

"We are going to discuss possible options," Schumacher said, declining to comment further about the matter.

It was rumored early Monday that Burnett would resign from his position as city manager, but he told the Marathon City Council on Tuesday he would like to be placed on paid administrative leave to give him the opportunity to absolve the issue. The council granted that request via a 4-1 vote. Vice Mayor Don Vasil was the lone dissenter. He suggested the council terminate Burnett's contract.