Meeting meltdown: Screaming match caught on camera as Jonesboro mayor and council battle for power

JONESBORO, Ga. – Bad blood has been simmering for more than a year Jonesboro’s mayor and a majority of the municipal council members. And at a recent meeting, those tensions spilled into the public eye with a full-blown shouting match.

The verbal altercation was captured on the city’s internal cameras and obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team. In the video, elected officials accuse the mayor of bullying and berating employees, with the mayor firing back that some of her colleagues are racist and “little cowards.”

“Maybe we can get some work done if you stop being so jealous of my position,” Mayor Donya Sartor says to the council members in a raised voice. “Now we can make it a clown show tonight, however you want.”

Mayor Pro Tem Tracey Messick is seen gathering her things to leave the meeting.

“I’m leaving tonight,” Messick tells the mayor, “until you can learn to stop bullying council members.”

“I don’t bully. I don’t bully,” Sartor replies. “If y’all could just stop being so racist, maybe I wouldn’t have to do that.”

The meeting – a working session in the council chamber – took place on November 4. The mayor and councilors met again on Monday in a much more friendly meeting.

“It would be better if we could communicate in a civil way. That would make life here much better,” the mayor told the I-Team. “I think it’s one person wanting things a certain way and putting pressure on them, and then other people wanting things their way. So I think it’s more of a power struggle than anything.”

The source of tension

Being on one side of the battle council members trying to control who they think is one out-of-control CEO. In phone interviews with the I-Team, they accused her of it to rule the city through fearcausing Jonesboro to lose department heads over public works, finance and information technology, as well as the city clerk.

On the other hand, Sartor, serving her first full term is the city’s first black mayor to accuse her colleagues of racism.

“She’s screaming. She’s screaming,” Councilman Bobby Lester said during the Nov. 4 meeting. “She’s swearing about employees and all that stuff, and we can’t stop it.”

“You’re right,” Sartor replies, “because the charter doesn’t allow you to stop it all.”

Lester is heard saying, “You weaponized our charter…”

“No, I didn’t use it as a weapon,” Sartor says. ‘You can sue me for anything I’ve done that doesn’t apply to me. Y’all are mad about that.’

Jonesboro has approximately 6,000 inhabitants and an operating budget of just over $8 million. It’s been a tough year for the city council, with an internal investigation into the mayor, lawsuits between the mayor and the city, a GBI investigation, a police chief shotfriction over forming an ethics committee, and now a public fallout between elected officials.

“Yes, I was one of those accused of racism,” Mayor Pro Tem Messick told the I-Team. ‘I thought that was a nasty statement. And not true, not true at all.’

Mayor Sartor told the I-Team she stands by her comments.

“I am simply exercising the powers granted to me by the Charter by virtue of holding this position,” Sartor said. “And I think some council members have difficulty with that.”

“Is it better for me to remain calm during council meetings?” she said. “I’m still working on that.”

A city with a strong mayor

Several council members recently called on the Clayton County legislative delegation to change the city’s charter so that day-to-day operations would be led by the city manager instead of the mayor. Delegation members rejected their request.

“The system of strong mayors has been in place for I don’t know how many years,” Mayor Sartor told the I-Team. “Now I come into this position as an African-American woman, and all of a sudden you’re trying to change my specific powers.”

Here’s some backstory: In September 2023, the City Council voted to hire an outside attorney to investigate allegations that the mayor pointed a gun at a police lieutenant in her office.

Attorney Tracy Lawson’s report accused the mayor of this, including improperly soliciting a campaign donation from a police applicant. The report recommended a forensic audit of all city accounts.

However, a GBI investigation revealed no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the Mayor and the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute.

Meanwhile, Sartor won re-election in November, and she has fired Police Chief Tommy Henderson And two officials involved in the internal investigation.

Sartor told the I-Team that these shots were “related to the allegations of the gun incident,” but she said the allegations were untrue.

As for other departures, she said some employees have chosen not to work for her administration.

“The record would show that some of our employees left because they went for better-paying jobs,” Sartor said. “I have asked my council time and time again to look at how poorly we are paying some of our key staff and to try to increase those salaries.”

Forming an ethics committee

Her spat with council members on Nov. 4 began with a discussion about reforming the city’s ethics commission — something council members have been pushing for the past year as another way to check the mayor’s powers.

Jonesboro used to have an ethics commission, as many city and county governments do, but it was disbanded because it could handle too few complaints.

The new panel would consist of two members appointed by the city council and one by the mayor. It would investigate ethics complaints against employees, board members and elected officials. The findings would be sent to the mayor and council, who could seek a reprimand, censure, payment of wages, resignations or removal from office.

The committee could only investigate complaints about future actions. It could not investigate any allegations before the committee was formed.

The onstage discussion began with talk of selecting appointees, and the mayor admonished Mayor Pro Tem Messick to speak only when called upon, at one point angrily banging her gavel.

“You will learn to respect me somehow,” Sartor tells Messick. “It could be in public or in your little closet. You’re packing your things, so get out!”

Messick walks out and the council votes to adjourn.

Mayor Sartor told the I-Team that she also supports the creation of an ethics commission, but she does not want it to become a tool to attack the mayor.