City of Margaret remains without appointed mayor nearly two months after resignation

MARGARET, Ala. (WBRC) - The City of Margaret in St. Clair County is without a mayor and a police chief right now. Both officials resigned within a few weeks of each other back in December and the positions are still unfilled.

WBRC FOX6 reached out to all five city councilmembers on Friday and received responses from three of them. Though district 2 representative Darius Crump had to cancel his interview, Matthew Tortorice, representing district 4, and Jonathan Ray, representing district 5, explained what they knew about the issues.

“Our city wants and deserves transparency from its elected officials and I have been fighting for two years against the opposition to give that,” said Tortorice.

Ray said the lack of cooperation between city officials is embarrassing to the citizens of Margaret.

“I just want to be clear that our city has an interim mayor and that the city business is still occurring,” said Tortorice. “The city clerk can do just about anything the city needs to do. She’s really been running the city for many, many years because we’ve had absentee mayors for a long time.”

During the current mayoral vacancy, Tortorice says communication between council members is slim.

“Since I first tried to start to discuss filling the mayor’s vacancy, the Mayor Pro-Tem has not answered a call from me, called me, or communicated with me directly in any way,” he added.

“I’ve heard there’s seven candidates,” said Ray. “I’ve heard there’s five candidates. It’s changing daily but nobody knows. There’s no communication. Mayor Pro-Tem has said he won’t reach out and talk to anybody because he doesn’t have to. Well, you’re right. You don’t have to but are we doing the city due justice by doing it that way?”

Ray and Tortorice say they wanted to hold interviews for the mayor’s seat but were told that won’t happen.

“Mayor Pro-Tem has advised us that we’re not holding interviews,” explained Ray. “We’re going to open letters, we’re going to vote, and we’re going to move on. Are we doing our due justice to the citizens by operating in such manner?”

As of Sunday night, Mayor Pro-Tem Daryl McIntyre has not responded to our request for comment, along with James Chapman representing district 1.

We were at the special called meeting on January 26 that was set to appoint a new mayor but not enough council members showed up for a vote. Tortorice says it’s at the point the decision may end up in the governor’s hands.

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