South Fulton councilwomen refute claims of a hostile work environment
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - Two South Fulton city council members spent Tuesday afternoon address allegation of a hostile work environment.
Councilwoman Helen Willis and Councilwoman Natasha Williams held a press conference on Tuesday. They claim the city manager Tammi Sadler Jones will be held accountable for nearly $2 million of misappropriated CARES Act funds.
This is all part of a back and forth between city officials. First, the city manager wrote a letter charging Willis publicly humiliated her during a council meeting. Now, two council members say she is only doing that because she will be held accountable for those funds.
Willis acknowledged a city council meeting on Oct. 25, 2022, in which she said she had her knee on manager Tammi Sadler Jones’ neck. She says it was taken out of context, as a way of saying she was watching the manager handle parks and recreation matters closely.
"A passionate comment that was not meant in a malicious way was taken out of context and used against me…to smear my name," Willis said
"One of her job duties is to keep the city council advised as to the financial status of the city," said Williams
Several south Fulton residents attended the news conference. Reactions are mixed. Some say they are satisfied with the update. Others say they are not.
Both council members say the point of it was to limit distractions from their audits that will look into those CARES Act funds.
FOX 5 reached out to the city manager, but did not hear back as of early Tuesday evening.
This is the latest flap in the city of South Fulton. Last June, Councilwoman Willis asked the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to investigation Mayor Khalid Kamua’s use of his city-issued credit card following the firing of the city’s procurement officer. In July, the mayor announced he was filing a lawsuit based on what he calls violations of the Open Records Act, something Councilwoman Williams refuted. Earlier this month, the former human relations director and former police homicide detective filed a lawsuit the pair were retaliated against and forced to work in a hostile work environment after trying to bring to light violations by the head of the police department's narcotics unit.