Meeting meltdown: Screaming match caught on camera as Jonesboro's mayor and council battle for power

JONESBORO, Ga. - Bad blood has been brewing for more than a year between Jonesboro’s mayor and a majority of city council members. And during a recent meeting, those tensions spilled into public view with a full-blown shouting match.

The verbal fracas was captured by the city’s internal cameras and obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team. On the video, elected officials accuse the mayor of bullying and cussing at employees, with the mayor firing back that some of her colleagues are racist and "little cowards."

"Maybe if you’d stop being so jealous of me being in this position, we can get some work done," Mayor Donya Sartor is heard telling council members in a raised voice. "Now we can make this a clown show however y’all want to tonight."

Mayor Pro Tem Tracey Messick is seen gathering her things to walk out of the meeting.

"I’m leaving for the evening," Messick tells the mayor, "until you can learn to quit bullying council members."

"I’m not bullying. I’m not bullying," Sartor retorts. "If y’all can stop being so racist, maybe I wouldn’t have to."

The meeting – a work session held in council chambers – happened Nov. 4. The mayor and council met again Monday in a meeting that was far more amicable.

"It would be better if we could communicate in a civil way. That would make life much better here," the mayor pro tem told the I-Team. "I think it is one person wanting things one way and pushing, and then other people wanting things their way. So I think it's more of a power struggle than anything."

The source of tension

On one side of the struggle are council members trying to rein in who they say is an out-of-control chief executive. In phone interviews with the I-Team, they’ve accused her of ruling the city by fear, causing Jonesboro to lose department heads over public works, finance, and information technology, as well as the city clerk.

On the other side, Sartor, serving her first full term as the city’s first black mayor, accuses her colleagues of racism.

"She yells. She screams," Councilman Bobby Lester says during the Nov. 4 meeting. "She cusses at employees and all this stuff, and we can’t stop it."

"You’re right," Sartor responds, "because the charter does not allow you all to stop it."

Lester is heard saying, "You have weaponized our charter …"

"No, I have not weaponized it," Sartor says. "Sue me for anything I have done that’s not applicable to me. That’s what y’all are pissed about."

Jonesboro has a population of about 6,000 people and a working budget of just over $8 million. It’s been a tough past year for the city government, with an internal investigation of the mayor, litigation between the mayor and council, a GBI probe, a police chief fired, friction over forming an ethics committee, and now a public blowout between elected officials.

"Yeah, I was one of the ones that was accused of racism," Mayor Pro Tem Messick told the I-Team. "I thought that was a foul thing to say. And untrue, completely untrue."

Mayor Sartor told the I-Team she stands by her comments.

"I'm just simply exercising the powers that the charter bestows upon me by virtue of me holding this position," Sartor said. "And I think some council members are struggling with that."

"Can I do a better job at remaining calm during council meetings?" she said. "I'm a work in progress on that."

A strong-mayor city

Several council members recently appealed to Clayton County’s legislative delegation to alter the city’s charter, so day-to-day operations would be run by the city manager instead of the mayor. Delegation members rebuffed their request.

"The strong-mayor system had been in place for I don't know how many years," Mayor Sartor told the I-Team. "Now I get in this position as an African-American woman, and all of a sudden you're trying to change my particular powers."

Here’s some backstory: In September 2023, the city council voted to hire an outside attorney to investigate allegations that the mayor pointed a handgun at a police lieutenant in her office.

Attorney Tracy Lawson’s report accused the mayor of just that, as well as, among other things, improperly soliciting a campaign donation from a police department job applicant. The report recommended a forensic audit of all city accounts.

A GBI investigation, however, found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the mayor, and the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute.

Meanwhile, Sartor won reelection in November, and she fired Police Chief Tommy Henderson and two officers involved in the internal investigation.

Sartor told the I-Team those firings were "related to the allegations for the gun incident," allegations she said weren’t true.

As for other departures, she said some employees have chosen not to work for her administration.

"The record would show a number of our employees have left because they went for better paying jobs," Sartor said. "I have petitioned my council time and time again to look at how poorly we pay some of our key staff members and to try to increase those salaries."

Forming an ethics board

Her spat with council members on Nov. 4 began with a discussion of re-forming the city’s ethics committee – something council members have been pushing over the past year as another way to check the powers of the mayor.

Jonesboro formerly had an ethics committee, as many city and county governments do, but it dissolved because of a lack of complaints to handle. 

The new panel would have two members appointed by council and one appointed by the mayor. It would investigate ethics complaints against employees, board members and elected officials. Findings would be sent to the mayor and council, which could reprimand, censure, withhold pay, request resignation, or seek removal from office.

The committee could only investigate complaints about acts going forward. It could not investigate any allegations prior to the committee being formed.

The argument on the dais began with talk about selecting appointees, and the mayor admonishing Mayor Pro Tem Messick to only speak when called on, at one point furiously banging her gavel.

"You will learn to respect me, one way or the other," Sartor tells Messick. "It can be publicly or in your little closet. You’re packing up your things, so leave!"

Messick walks out, and council votes to adjourn.

Mayor Sartor told the I-Team she supports forming an ethics committee, too, but she does not want it to become a vehicle for targeting the mayor.