Stockbridge Mayor Lee Stuart on Tuesday pushed back against criticism from his City Council, which censured him last week in a 4-1 vote.
Council members have accused Stuart of disrupting the city's functioning by harassing employees, demanding unnecessary security precautions at the local courthouse, and claiming without justification that city officials may be manipulating ticket citations.
But Stuart, his attorney and several community supporters told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his critics are blowing matters out of proportion in a political effort to avoid accountability.
"All the things said were the result of political tension," said Joshua Cloud, the mayor's attorney. "They were trying to score a political point."
Stuart stood by his security concerns, pointing to a report by the Henry County Police Department that described vulnerabilities at the courthouse. He also defended his claim that improper "ticket fixing" may have occurred, and called for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter.
Critics on the City Council have questioned such measures because they disagree with his policy plans, particularly his focus on holding government employees "accountable," Stuart said.
Cloud added, "Anytime you try to change the culture, people are going to be unhappy."
Stuart said he had pledged to change the culture of government in Stockbridge. As examples of missing accountability, he pointed to what he said was city code enforcement's history of harassing small businesses of out business, and the city spending more than $30,000 dollars on the same hand tools year after year.
He also recalled that when he first took office, a staffer gave him a city-purchased laptop and cell phone. Stuart says that when he asked where he should sign to take possession of the city property, the staffer appeared surprised and said there was no need for him to.
Such things had to change, and resistance to that change is what motivated the Monday censure vote, Stuart and his supporters said.
"I upset the applecart when I asked for people to be held accountable," Stuart said.
But city officials said that Stuart's behavior was the problem.
"He has no respect for us as other elected officials," Councilman Mark Alarcon told the AJC last week. "He has no respect for staff."
Alarcon and Councilman Richard Steinberg said that Stuart, a retired military officer who served in Iraq, has applied his experience with military discipline to the city with disastrous results.
"I appreciate and respect his military service," Alarcon said. "[But] you cannot take a military structure into a civilian, municipal structure. Staff are supposed to snap-to and ten-hut any time he speaks. That just doesn't work. We're in the civilian world. We're not in Baghdad."
Stuart said he had not mistreated any employees and added that his insistence on accountability is not a military mindset.
"It's not military," he said. "It's biblical. It's about being a good steward."
Steinberg also told the AJC that the mayor has harassed, belittled and undermined employees. "He has verbally and in writing berated officials on a continuing basis," Steinberg said.
On July 9, municipal Court Clerk Annita Gunnoe wrote a memo criticizing Stuart for comments he allegedly made in a private conversation with her. She emailed the memo, which the AJC obtained, to multiple city officials.
According to Gunnoe's memo, the mayor accused the court of "fixing tickets," and said that citizens refer to it as a "Kangaroo Court." Stuart also demanded that the court employees make unnecessary security precautions, including moving away from windows and installing a new wall to protect employees from "sniper fire," Gunnoe said.
Steinberg echoed her sentiments, saying that the mayor had yet to provide any evidence of a threat.
But Stuart said that he has good reason for the security measures. He provided the AJC with a security assessment conducted by the Henry County Police Department. The report notes several security vulnerabilities at the courthouse, and lists multiple suggestions for how the court can protect employees from attackers.
Stuart also said that Steinberg and other City Council members have seen the report. They should therefore know, he said, that his concerns are based on the police department's findings, and not his own fears.
As for potential manipulation of ticket citations, Stuart provided the AJC with copies of three emails in which a city official asked the municipal court to cancel ticket citations.
Stuart said he was unsure whether such cancellation requests were proper, hence his call for an investigation by the GBI instead of the Stockbridge city attorney.
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