JENNINGS, Mo. — The City of Jennings has filed a lawsuit against five council members amid a mass resignation and allegations against Mayor Gary Johnson.
The lawsuit, signed by the mayor, asks a judge to invalidate an emergency meeting that was held on Aug. 18 following the resignations of multiple employees with the City of Jennings. The lawsuit alleges that the meeting was invalid for a number of reasons, including that the former city clerk did not have the power to carry out her duties because her resignation took effect at 5 p.m. that day.
This comes after those same five councilmembers circulated a letter last week saying they were planning to take a vote of no confidence against the mayor, claiming he has caused several employees to step down due to a hostile work environment.
The council members named in the lawsuit are Terry Wilson, Allan Stichnote, Nadia Quinn, Jane Brown and Jeannine Roberts.
Timeline
All eight council members were present for a meeting on Aug. 9 that moved to a closed session. The meeting was allegedly called by the mayor in an attempt to terminate City Attorney Sam Alton.
On Aug. 15, in a resignation letter addressed to the city council, Alton called the actions of Jennings Mayor Gary Johnson "illegal, unethical, immoral, retaliatory and racist."
After the resignation of Alton and several other city employees who claimed the mayor had created a hostile work environment, an emergency city council meeting was called for Aug. 18 with the goal of invalidating the previous meeting held Aug. 9 and reversing terminations and accepted resignations of city leaders.
At the chaotic emergency meeting on Aug. 18, residents arrived to closed doors and signs posted on the door that said the meeting was canceled.
Johnson was then seen with St. Louis County police officers with this message for community members: "I just said there is no meeting because we do not have a secretary to take notes. This is a blatant attempt by the old mayor to bombard our meeting. That's all that is. I did not give proper notice of the meeting."
Jennings residents did eventually make their way inside, and once seated, one council member said there was no recorder for the meeting because the mayor had taken it.
Councilmembers voted and passed the motion saying the resignations were a personnel issue and would be discussed at a closed meeting.
In the city's lawsuit, the mayor said that the emergency meeting was not authorized because he didn’t call it.
According to the lawsuit, then-City Clerk Deletra Hudson, who had submitted her resignation earlier that week, had no power to carry out her duties at the meeting because her resignation was effective at 5 p.m. that day.
The lawsuit said Johnson posted the signs at Jennings City Hall, closing it and canceling the meeting due to no clerk being available and there being no other person who could correctly conduct the duties of the city clerk.
Council members then attempted to conduct the meeting despite the mayor's signs and calls to cancel the meeting, the lawsuit said.
All five council members named in the lawsuit were absent from the Monday, Aug. 28, council meeting, during which they had been anticipated to hold a no-confidence vote against the mayor. Only three council members — Denise Woods, Kimberly Morton and Lorraine Clower — and Johnson were present.
