City In Chaos

The City of Lithonia located in Dekalb County, Georgia has a population of more than 2,100 residents. Who would have thought that this small suburban Atlanta community would be in the mist of a soap opera like power struggle?

Lithonia’s most recent trouble started when recently elected Mayor Joyce McKibben fired Lithonia's police chief, Willie Rosser. That set off a chain of events that has kept the city in spotlight for nearly two weeks. The mayor claims that the chief violated city policies and fired him. Hours later the city council reinstated the chief saying that the mayor does not have the power to fire him. That night’s city council meeting turned into a heated confrontation between the mayor and her supporters and the city council and the chief’s supporters. Since then two of the mayor’s aides were arrested and the mayor herself charged with obstruction and theft. City employees were paid late because of the fighting between the mayor and city council. State officials were scheduled to help mediate the dispute between the parties involved but that meeting was canceled.

So what’s next? I’m sure most residents are embarrassed with the way their elected officials have behaved. It looks like people’s egos are getting in the way of handling the city’s business. With allegations of theft, police harassment, abuse of city credit cards and poor financial management, someone from the Attorney General’s office should step in and start an investigation.

I think everyone involved has to take some responsibility. The mayor should have consulted someone like the city attorney before firing the police chief. The city council should have listened to the mayor’s accusations and investigated. And finally the police chief should remove himself from the center of the controversy and not fuel the fire. The people of Lithonia should not be further subjected to the petty fighting among city leaders. Bottom line these people should act like professionals, conduct the city’s business and allow an outside party to investigate all the allegations and let the cards fall where they fall.