Jonesboro’s mayor announced she changed her mind on her resignation during a news conference Friday, less than a day after a council meeting where she made the tearful announcement she was stepping down.
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Channel 2′s Tom Jones was there when Dr. Donya Sartor announced she was resigning, and he was there when she announced she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve changed my mind and will not offer a resignation as mayor,” she said Friday.
It was a totally different scene than the day before, when Sartor was in tears and stunned the crowd by rendering her resignation as mayor.
Sartor now says she was under stress after some of her colleagues tried to force out of her position. She says a councilmember stalked her and councilmembers have harassed her for the last nearly 18 months, calling it “a constant attack of the power that was bestowed upon me.”
Some councilmembers say they will push for a vote to accept her resignation at the regular council meeting Monday. Sartor says a legal opinion stated she has the right to change her mind since the council did not immediately accept her resignation.
Councilmember Billy Powell says no one has harassed attacked, or stalked the mayor.
“Well, I don’t know what goes into her head but some crazy things come out it,” he said.
Powell showed Jones a court document where the case was dismissed last year after Sartor accused him of stalking her.
“She thinks she was being stalked, but the judge says she wasn’t,” he said.
Powell says Sartor is the problem. He says she is a micro-manager who has fired or chased away police chiefs and several other high level employees.
“Everybody here is new, because she’s run off the old ones,” he said.
Sartor says she has done nothing but try and serve her constituents to the best of her ability. She said she believes her race is the reason her colleagues complain about her management style.
She wanted to make one thing clear: “I am still the existing mayor for the city of Jonesboro. Currently there is no resignation.”
Sartor says she heard from her constituents and supporters who urged her to stay on. Some councilmembers say the city cannot heal and move forward with her as mayor.
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The mayor has found herself at the center of controversy before.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln first reported on allegations of misconduct after councilmembers voted to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of abuse of power and misuse of city resources.
She said the allegations were nothing more than an attempt to discredit her leadership.
In Sept. 2023, she was accused of pointing a loaded gun at a police officer, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Sartor also received criticism for firing a police officer who was involved in the investigation against her, as well as the police chief.
She said replacing officials like the police chief are not uncommon when a new mayor takes office.
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