Gordon Mayor Refuses to Speak on Discrimination Complaints, Possible Legal Issues

GORDON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – There is more controversy surrounding the new mayor in Gordon. She is facing federal racial discrimination complaints and possible legal issues under her administration.

This comes after the police chief says Mayor Mary Whipple-Lue threatened to fire him because he refused to change an employee’s schedule. 41NBC’s Amanda Castro went to Gordon to get the mayor’s side of the story, but she refused to talk to us.

Our cameras were rolling as we walked into Gordon City Hall on Tuesday to try talk to Mayor Whipple-Lue.

“Is the mayor available? We wanted to see if she’d be willing to talk to us,” Castro asked.

But the mayor did not come out of her office after a city employee knocked and told her 41NBC was there to see her.

“She’s not available for any comment,” the employee said. “When will the mayor be available?” Castro asked.

The employee went back to the mayor’s office to ask and Whipple-Lue could be heard saying “not today.” The employee came back and told 41NBC the mayor would not be available in the near future.

This response comes after a packed city council meeting Monday night where residents were concerned about the new mayor’s leadership. She has only been in office for a month. In that time, city councilman Terry Eady says four city employees have filed racial discrimination complaints against Whipple-Lue with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“They have been threatened with their job to be replaced if they didn’t do certain things,” Eady told 41NBC. “And its not a good situation for the city or for our employees to be in.”

A Gordon resident gave a letter to 41NBC which was sent to the mayor and council members. It lists possible legal issues the City of Gordon is facing, such as the mayor hiring her husband as the Chief of State.

In that letter, city attorney Joseph Boone writes, “Mr. Lue cannot be an employee of the city of gordon due to the strong anti-nepotism clause in the city of gordon personnel policy manual.”

The letter goes on to question if the mayor violated any open meetings laws during last month’s city council meeting.

“It appears that several citizens were denied access to the meeting at the last council meeting because there was insufficient room in the council chambers,” the letter states.

Before driving to city hall, Castro called Mayor Whipple-Lue to offer her the opportunity to share her side of the story and to set the record straight. She told Castro to never call her office again and then they were disconnected. Castro called back, but was told the mayor would not take her call. Whipple-Lue has not returned 41NBC’s messages.

41NBC went back to city hall a second time to try to talk to city councilman Terry Reese. He said his advisors urged him to not speak to the media.

“Would you like to talk or would the mayor like to talk, knowing that Mr. Eady did speak?” Castro asked. “No ma’am,” Reese said.

In past city council meetings, the mayor has said no one is fired and that she is trying to do what’s best for the city. Eady adds it will take everyone working together to make that happen.

“If everybody has got the best interest of the City of Gordon at their heart, the mayor, all the new council persons, and all the other council persons too, I think we’ll be able to work this problem out,” Eady said.

According to the Georgia Municipal Assocation, which is the state agency that trains government officials, Mayor Whipple-Lue has not signed up yet for the newly elected officials training. It’s required by state law, but there are no penalties if an official doesn’t attend.

To be clear, 41NBC is offering an open invitation to Mayor Whipple-Lue to sit down with us and talk about what’s going on in the City of Gordon.