Residents split over city employee terminations
CALHOUN CITY, Miss. (WCBI) – Citizens are calling for a change in leadership in Calhoun City.
A number of Calhoun City employees have been fired in the past couple of months.
“Your livelihood is snatched away just in the blink of an eye. You show up to work thinking everything is going to proceed as normal, and you learn that it is not,” said former municipal court clerk Michael Armstrong.
Armstrong and three other city employees, including the former deputy clerk and public works worker, had their jobs terminated in July
“In July, we showed up to work, myself, Debra Bailey, and Jamarcus Judenary, and within an hour of working, we were asked to go home,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong later learned that the mayor sent a letter to the Board of Aldermen over the weekend about why he was firing the individuals.
One of the reasons Mayor Marshall Coleman listed in the letter was that “Each of these employees … campaigned openly against me.”
Mayor Marshall Coleman declined to be interviewed on Monday.
In a special called board meeting on October 20, he stated: “I asked for those employees to leave because I did not feel like I could trust them based off what I know.”
“As far as campaigning, who we wanted to see in office, that’s a personal preference, but I guess he saw it as problematic,” said Armstrong.
In that letter, it also said the mayor vetoed the motion to rehire any of the employees.
Recently, the former city clerk has resigned.
In last week’s board meeting, the mayor tried to hire a person who was operating as an interim city clerk.
“Who’s going to do the payroll? Who’s going to do that? Who’s going to do everything that’s needed to run an office?” asked Armstrong in the last board meeting.
The board did not agree to hire the woman without a job advertisement being posted and having her apply.
An alderman suggested having an official vote to hire her as interim city clerk, but she denied the request.
This resulted in city business coming to a standstill.
“So, nobody will be in the desk in the morning. It will be nobody in there,” said Armstrong in the last board meeting.
Sources tell WCBI that city employees were not paid last week.
Armstrong also shared that he and another former employee have had their retirement funds withheld from them because they were told it is under investigation.
Several citizens have shared that they want a change in leadership.
“This administration, the head of this administration, the mayor of Calhoun City, I believe his practices are distasteful,” said Armstrong.
This is Mayor Coleman’s second term in office.
A special called board meeting is happening Monday, October 27, at 7 pm at city hall in Calhoun City.
