College Park mayor files federal lawsuit against city
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - College Park's first female and Black mayor has filed a federal lawsuit against the city she's in charge of.
Mayor Bianca Motley Broome claims the College Park City Council has tried to silence her from expressing her opinion during debates or discussions about legislative initiatives.
"The ostensible reason articulated by the Council for its action is that the presiding officer should remain neutral during the deliberations of the Body," Broome wrote.
In the lawsuit, which Broome filed on Friday, the mayor alleges the city changed and tried to remove her from her duties for speaking out about their restraints.
"It is apparent, if not crystal clear, that the City, acting through its elected Council, with the advice and consent of the City Attorney, has retaliated, and will continue to retaliate, against Mayor Motley Broom for her leadership and adherence to the Rule of Law thereby ‘building the community we deserve,’ as her campaign slogan puts it," Broome wrote.
Broome is asking the U.S. District Court to hold a hearing to grant her a temporary restraining order and issue an injunction against the city.
College Park legal issues and mysterious firings
The mayor's lawsuit isn't the only one College Park has recently faced.
In April 2023, former city manager Darnetta Tyus and former deputy police chief Sharis McCrary filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city of sexual discrimination over the city's search for a police chief.
Tyus' replacement, Stanley Hawthorne, was fired less than a year after taking the job. The city rescinded that decision and agreed to pay Hawthorne nearly $140,000 in severance. The city never publicly gave a reason for the firing.
Last month, sources told FOX 5 that several city employees either resigned or had been fired over several weeks. The city has disclosed little to no information to the public on the departures, and residents told FOX 5 that they fear they're being left in the dark.