The mayor of College Park has filed a second lawsuit against the city over which she presides. The legal action of Mayor Bianca Motley Broom is in response to city council’s recent censure of her.
The mayor’s first lawsuit is pending in federal court and stems from an ordinance passed by city council in January that limits her ability to speak during meetings.
Motley Broom is now challenging a censure that city council issued against her in August for asking questions during a meeting.
Motley Broom’s attorney, Chris Balch, filed a Petition for Review of the censure last Friday in Fulton County Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that the August censure was unlawful and not in accordance with the city’s ethics ordinance.
The ethics ordinance requires that a complaint be filed with the city clerk’s office as well as the due process of a hearing.
The latest lawsuit also alleges that the special-called meeting held on Aug. 9 was invalid and violated the Open Meetings Act because the city manager and police chief removed the public from council chambers. The move took place when residents stood in applause as Motley Broom’s husband shouted out his disagreement with the censure.
The mayor wrote on her website that she believes the acting City Manager, Emmanuel Adediran, cleared the room to “quell dissent” of the censure.
“The Open Meetings Act declares that all meetings of a public agency must be open to the public,” the suit reads. “The special called meeting of the city council for the city of College Park is a meeting of a public agency.”
In a formal statement, the city says that because the meeting was live-streamed, the Open Meetings Act was not violated.
Motley Broom and council members have had an antagonistic relationship since the ordinance was approved in January to limit her ability to speak. Bill Crane, a crisis communications consultant who the city hired this summer, said council members want to form a better relationship with the mayor.
The new lawsuit is not necessarily helpful, Crane told SaportaReport.
“If the city of College Park’s leaders cannot find that path to civil dialogue and discourse, then these problems will only continue to fester and get worse and will have to be decided by voters.” Crane said.
“…The mayor’s second lawsuit this year is being served on the city, calling out one of her colleagues individually and providing no prior notification or due process, in almost the same exact manner that she is accusing her colleagues of treating her, for the second time in less than six months,” Crane added in a formal statement.
Motley Broom’s website says that she understands the seriousness of taking legal action against the city.
“I had hoped to resolve these matters without litigation,” the site reads. “Lawsuits are disruptive and cast a shadow over our community. However, they are sometimes the only means to ensure that our city operates within its legal boundaries and that justice is upheld for all of us.”
Leave a comment