A lawsuit initiated by a College Park councilwoman is heating up as a responding attorney laid out reasons for a recall effort against the official. The public has also questioned whether the city of College Park has a conflict of interest in the case.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Jamelle McKenzie is suing resident Mose James IV and Deputy City Clerk Queenie Brown in Fulton County Superior Court to permanently end a recall effort to remove her from office.
The legal action filed by McKenzie’s attorney, Jeremy Berry, in August asks the court to review the sufficiency of the recall application that was submitted to the City Clerk’s office.
But attorney James Walker, who represents James IV, says his legal response to the lawsuit points to McKenzie’s harassment and intimidation of city hall employees and residents, as well as other misconduct.
Walker’s legal response to McKenzie’s lawsuit reads: “The Application for Recall clearly states that the petition seeks to remove Jamelle E. McKenzie from office due to allegations of malfeasance, a breach of her oath of office, misconduct and failure to perform her legally prescribed duties.”
McKenzie has repeatedly said that the accusations against her are untrue and an act of retaliation by opposing voters who did not support her election in 2023.
“The four alleged grounds in the recall application do not rise to the level of conduct for which an elected official — elected by the voters — can or should be removed,” Berry said.
McKenzie won the election to office last November. In July, The Committee to Recall Jamelle McKenzie collected more than 200 signatures from residents for the group’s initial petition.
McKenzie’s lawsuit temporarily suspended the recall due to Georgia law which requires the effort be halted when a superior court review is pending. A court hearing is likely to take place by early November but Berry said that no matter the outcome due to appeals, “the legal process will be a lengthy one, as it should be.”
“The legislature has set an incredibly high threshold for the removal of an elected official,” Berry said.
The City of College Park might have a conflict of interest in the case.
Multiple sources have told SaportaReport that the city is paying for Berry’s legal services in the lawsuit while, on the other side of the case, city attorney Winston Denmark is representing Brown. Denmark and City Manager Emmanuel Adediran have not returned multiple phone calls inquiring about a possible conflict of interest.
SaportaReport has filed an open records request with the City Clerk’s office asking for an for an engagement letter or document regarding the hiring of Berry to represent McKenzie.
The councilwoman’s lawsuit alleges that Brown, as city clerk, is biased against McKenzie because the signatures on the application were verified two days after its submission and during a time that Brown had a backlog of open records requests.
James, an outspoken resident and objector of the current city government, is named in the lawsuit as the petition chairperson who filed the application for recall in the city clerk’s office.
Walker filed a response to the lawsuit on Sept. 18 with incidents that he says supports recalling the councilwoman’s election.
Walker includes affidavits in the filing from former City Clerk Shavala Ames and former Director of Finance and Accounting Althea Philord Bradley who spoke about a hostile work environment that they said was due to McKenzie.
Ames stated: “Councilwoman Jamelle McKenzie has not only lied on me and my staff, but on numerous occasions, has publicly humiliated me and has created a toxic and hostile work environment that became incredibly difficult and detrimental to my well-being; so much to the point that I had to seek medical attention to combat sleepless night, stress and anxiety.”
During an April city council meeting, McKenzie made a six-minute comment criticizing then-City Clerk Ames and the backlog of open record requests.
Ames, in reaction, walked out of the council meeting accusing McKenzie of gaslighting her staff. The exchange can be seen during the 2:07:00 minute mark on the above link.
“You will not lie on us,” Ames shouted. “…She talks about gaslighting, but she is the gaslighter. And I said it for the [profanity] record!”
The lawsuit response says McKenzie posted Ames’ firing on social media 10 days before it actually occurred.
Bradley states in her affidavit that she resigned due to the toxic workspace created by McKenzie.
“Performing routine functions of my job and enforcing fiscally sound policies and procedures became increasingly challenging due to… intimidation and threats of losing my job,” Bradley said. “Councilwoman Mckenzie routinely was unwilling to adhere to best practices and provide transparency.”
Walker’s legal response includes a June police report filed by Det. P. Edwards, in which he was informed about a disagreement that took place in May between Director of Parks and Recreation Michelle Johnson and resident Stanley Muhammad, who was upset that he was unable to rent space at Brady Gym for a Nation of Islam program.
That exchange over a recorded phone conversation included racial and sexist comments by Muhammad, according to the police report.
The matter of Muhammad renting the gym was later taken up at an in-person meeting with Mckenzie, Johnson, City Manager Emmanuel Adediran and Muhammad. That meeting was also recorded.
The police report states that Johnson felt “berated, intimidated and threatened” by Muhammad’s behavior and comments during the meeting in which McKenzie and Adediran okayed him renting the gym.
“She felt like she had to sit there, or she would’ve been fired,” Walker said of Johnson. “They knew what transpired [before], but they still made her go into that meeting where she felt actually threatened. They watched Stanley Muhammad and listened to him verbally abuse her.”
Walker refers to three precedent courts cases in his filing when alleging that McKenzie also intimidates residents. The legal response states that the councilwoman wrongfully blocked residents from her official email account and Facebook pages which are public platforms.
McKenzie is also accused of playing a role in College Park city council’s lack of transparency and making false statements regarding council’s decision to deed Bill Evans Baseball Field to the Business and Industrial Development Authority so it could be sold to developers. Separately, the lawsuit rebuttal alleges she was dishonest about her knowledge of a document laying out payments to College Park from NextEra Energy Resources. The company plans to build the controversial lithium-ion battery storage facility.
Berry said those against McKenzie are seeking political revenge, and the allegations are baseless.
“None of the allegations come close to the high statutory threshold for recall,” he said. “Councilmember McKenzie’s opponents might have other recourse, but going through a long and meritless recall process based on political revenge is not one the appropriate way to pursue whatever goal her opponents might have.”
Legal documents can be found here.
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