JENNINGS, Mo. — Recent resignations of top Jennings officials have put the city into the spotlight, but it's hardly the first time the north St. Louis County municipality has been mired in controversy.
The past eight years have seen an impeachment, numerous lawsuits and conflict with St. Louis County government. Here's how Jennings got to this point.
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2015: Mayor Yolonda Fountain Henderson sues multiple Jennings officials
Yolonda Fountain Henderson was sworn in as the mayor of Jennings on April 27, 2015. Just three weeks later, multiple news outlets reported that Fountain Henderson filed a lawsuit against numerous city officials, including:
- City Council members
- City clerk
- City attorney
- City collector
- Director of public safety
- Director of housing and economic development
- Director of streets
- Director of parks
- Coordinator of special services
- Public health officer
- Municipal judge
- Youth Commission members
- Senior Citizens Commission members
- Landmarks Commission members
- Human Rights Commission members
- Members of the Board of Trustees for the Police and Firemen’s Retirement Fund
Fountain Henderson, in the lawsuit, claimed the city council and the city's former mayor, Benjamin Sutphin, worked together and rushed to fill numerous positions throughout city government before Fountain Henderson was elected. She claimed that the move was to undermine her and the office of the mayor's powers.
The lawsuit didn't go over well with Jennings' city government.
2016: City Council impeaches Mayor Yolonda Fountain Henderson
Just over a year after Fountain Henderson was sworn in as mayor, the city council unanimously voted to impeach her.
Special prosecutor Paul Martin listed 19 alleged instances of misconduct, including the "frivolous" lawsuit against the city, as reasons for the impeachment.
Francine Dugger, who ran against Fountain Henderson in 2015 and lost, was named mayor pro temp after the impeachment.
PAST REPORTING: Jennings mayor impeached after unanimous vote
2020: Mayor Yolanda Austin criticized police, criticized by residents
Yolanda Austin, the mother of Jennings City Councilman Terry Wilson, was elected mayor in 2017 after beating Francine Dugger.
In 2020, she made headlines when she criticized a corporate-led police program that included her city without consulting her. Austin sent a strongly-worded letter to St. Louis and St. Louis County officials saying Jennings wouldn't participate unless city officials had a seat at the table.
Soon after the letter was sent, St. Louis County Police Board Commissioner LJ Punch resigned, citing the secrecy with which the program was developed. Punch was the sole dissenting vote
Despite being a proponent of crime prevention in words, Jennings residents criticized Austin and the City Council for spending thousands of tax dollars on other projects, including the approval of a new city hall and a monument to Austin at a basketball court she helped create.
2023: Mayor Gary Johnson causes mass resignation of officials
Gary Johnson, a former Jennings city councilman, was elected mayor on April 4 after he defeated Austin by 34 votes.
Johnson would soon butt heads with city attorney Sam Alton after Alton suggested the city obtain administrative warrants prior to towing residents' cars that are parked on personal property, the attorney recently told 5 On Your Side.
The mayor then called a meeting with city council members on Aug. 9, where he reportedly motioned to terminate Alton from the city attorney position. Johnson didn't have the votes to confirm Alton's termination, but he did admit that the attempted termination was due to Alton's suggestion about warrants. Alton also claimed that the Aug. 9 meeting violated several of the state's Sunshine laws.
Alton and multiple other city officials, in response to the attempted ousting, walked out of Jennings City Hall and sent letters of resignation this past week, including the city clerk, accounting coordinator, a department manager and the contractor in charge of building the new city hall.
Many cited the Aug. 9 meeting as a reason, while others more generally pointed to a "hostile and unethical" work environment.
City council members held an emergency meeting on Friday to pass a resolution that essentially erased anything that happened during the Aug. 9 meeting.
Johnson tried numerous tactics to shut the meeting down, including posting signs on the door saying the meeting was canceled, attempting to stop a city council member from unlocking the doors to city hall and taking the recorder out of the council's meeting room.
Johnson also claimed the entire meeting was orchestrated by Austin, the former mayor.
"This is a blatant attempt by the old mayor to bombard out meeting," Johnson told reporters and residents once the doors to city hall were opened.
Wilson, a coucilmember and Austin's son, said that city officials are doing their own digging into the situation.
LATEST COVERAGE: Residents, city leaders take part in chaotic emergency meeting in Jennings City Hall
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