Two South Fulton city council members on Tuesday denounced recent complaints by City Manager Tammi Saddler Jones of a hostile work environment, and what they said is a related “smear campaign” on social media, but stopped short of calling for Saddler Jones to resign.
Councilwomen Helen Willis and Natasha Williams spoke to media Tuesday afternoon in the recreation center at Welcome All Park, addressing fallout from a letter Saddler Jones sent to city elected officials Feb. 6.
Saddler Jones’ letter singled out Willis and Williams in alleging that council members interfere with her ability to hire and fire employees, citing an argument over the Community Development and Regulatory Affairs Department. Her letter also said she is “regularly publicly berated, demeaned, and humiliated by certain City Council members.”
Leading a list of other insults and accusations that Saddler Jones said came from Willis and Williams, she cited an Oct. 25 meeting in which Willis said she had her “foot on (Saddler Jones’) neck” about the city pool.
“Is the inference that I need to be ‘trained’ like an animal?” Saddler Jones wrote.
She asked that council members stop treating her that way, and ended on the hope they could still all work together.
On Monday, Saddler Jones referred a request for comment to the city’s interim public affairs director, who asked the AJC to file an Open Records request for any documentation.
Asked for an official copy of Saddler Jones’ letter and any subsequent discussion of the issue, the city responded just after midday Wednesday by releasing only the letter — but with more than three dozen redactions including many of Saddler Jones’ accusations, many of the specific insults she cites, and some seemingly random phrases although the full letter had already been reported on.
Willis, for her part, said Tuesday that “at times I can be very passionate,” but that all her comments were in an effort to get things done after two years of frustration.
Willis said Tuesday that the “foot on her neck” comment was “not said in a malicious way, was taken out of context and used to smear my character.”
Willis said she used the phrase to describe pressuring Saddler Jones for an opening date for the pool, which had been closed for two years and which the council had voted $1.7 million for improvements.
She said she had several “pleasant conversations” with Saddler Jones since making the comment, and was unaware it was an issue until it appeared in Saddler Jones’ letter.
In turn, she alleged that several city employees have had complaints and grievances go unaddressed by city management since 2021. Several employees left, feeling they were “forced to resign,” in the last few months, Willis said.
Saddler Jones served in Smyrna’s city administration for a decade before being hired in October 2020 as South Fulton’s assistant city manager, according to her LinkedIn page. A month later she was appointed interim city manager on the departure of Odie Donald, and a month after that was hired for the permanent position. South Fulton, incorporated in 2017, has about 109,000 residents.
In Tuesday’s news conference, Willis and Williams did not mention Saddler Jones by name, and rarely mentioned the city manager by title, but pointed their accusations at top-level city staff in describing a “smear campaign” the council members say began after they started persistently asking questions about finances and operations.
The social media site Nextdoor.com is rife with rumors about South Fulton government, often smearing council members, Williams said.
“We are a big city with a lot of moving parts and we cannot spend our time chasing down unsubstantiated allegations,” she said.
Last month the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development contacted the city with “concerns” about why South Fulton had not drawn any funds from a nearly $1 million grant allocation over the last two fiscal years, Williams said.
A city audit for fiscal 2021 is being finalized, and council members have been pressing for its release, Williams said. One factor in the audit is “an issue” with finding documentation on $1.9 million in federal CARES Act spending, she said. Williams alleged there has been a concerted effort to keep that issue hidden from council members.
The city’s budget was also submitted long after the legal deadline to do so, she said.
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