Jaw-droppingly petty war erupts at town council meeting... and it was all caught on camera
An Alabama town council meeting devolved into a petty back-and-forth after the mayor was accused of treating the city clerk like a 'maid' and 'discriminating' against her by dumping a load of documents on her desk.
Officials in Tarrant, outside Birmingham, were preparing for a meeting Monday evening when City Clerk Laverne Knight exploded over the stack of papers.
Knight said that Mayor Wayman Newton was deliberately harassing her by placing the pile on her desk and responded by returning them to his seat at the dais.
'Why is he doing this to me, I'm not his maid. I can't clean up after him. That's not my job,' she said at the meeting, which was shared on the city's social media accounts.
'It's discriminating against me as a woman.'
When Newtown returned to the room, Knight lit into the mayor.
'You can't do that to me,' she exclaimed. 'That is so wrong to put your junk on my desk, for me to clean up after you. Don't you ever do to that to me again.'
Newtown then gathered up the documents and placed them back on her desk, before Knight again returned the favor.
'These are copies, these are yours,' the clerk said, urging the mayor to 'throw them away' if he didn't need them.
'I don't need them, so you can throw them away,' the mayor shot back.
Angered, she asked: 'Is that in my job description?'
'Yes it is in your job description,' he replied.
'To clean up after you? How much does your assistant get paid?' Knight said, pointing her finger in his face.
'I'm not going to mop your floors, I'm not mopping your floors,' she continued. 'Don't do that to me, I am a woman and I am not mopping your floors.'
After further bickering, the council's pro tem Mayor Traci Threadford bundled up the documents and took them away to be shredded.
According to AL.com, Newtown and Knight had once enjoyed a tight-knit relationship that his since crumbled.
Knight recently sought an arrest warrant against Newtown, alleging that he has being illegally blocking her access from records she needs to conduct her job.
A judge tossed out that warrant against the mayor, who is proceeding over a largely divided town over constant drama spilling out from the council.
Newtown and City Manager John C. Brown also made headlines last year after both claimed to be in charge of the town of 6,000.
The day after Brown was appointed, Newton filed a lawsuit against him, claiming the city council 'illegally' put Brown in his managerial position.
The legal battle between the two started in 2023, when the mayor sued Brown for taking over as the city manager of Tarrant - a position that council members voted on.
A judge ruled in favor of Newton, stating that the city council could not hire someone else to do his job.
In turn, Brown lost his job, his $100,000 annual salary, and his bank account was wiped out to pay for his $78,000 in legal fees, as ordered by the judge.
Brown appealed the case and it was handed over to the state's supreme court, which ruled his role was an illegal attempt to change the shape of the local government.
In August, residents of Tarrant filed an impeachment lawsuit against Mayor Newtown, accusing him of violating his duties.
They alleged that Newtown is using city funds, property, and employees for his personal business.
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