South Fulton County

South Fulton city councilwomen say city manager is shifting blame for ‘hostile work environment’

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A pair of South Fulton city councilwomen are flipping allegations of a hostile work environment back onto the city manager who blamed them last week.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes reported last week that City of South Fulton city manager Tammi Sadler Jones sent a four-page letter to the mayor and city council claiming their recent conduct is an attack on her character and have created a “hostile work environment.”

On Monday, those council members are saying those claims are nothing more than a distraction from the person who is really not doing their job: Sadler Jones.

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Councilwomen Helen Willis and Natasha Williams said in a news conference Tuesday that the city certainly has its own issues, but those should be handled internally, not by leaking letters to the media. They added that the only reason they held a news conference was because Sadler Jones gave her letter to Channel 2 Action News on Friday.

The letter specifically accused Willis and Williams of bullying, intimidation and harassment.

The two women said during the news conference that employees who have quit over the last two years and blamed it on their working environment all fell under the leadership of Sadler Jones.

“We have documentation that goes back to 2021 of employees who have filed grievances, of employees who sent emails straight to staff complaining that the work environment was hostile,” Willis said.

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Willis and Williams say that Sadler Jones’ claims that they are the problem is nothing more than a smear campaign because they say she has been mishandling money.

Williams says Sadler Jones is not keeping the council informed of the city’s financial status and that’s why she and Willis have been holding her accountable.

“As we have done that, the attacks and the smear campaigns have increased to the point where they are now a daily deluge of misinformation,” Williams said.

Immediately following the news conference, all three women began a regularly scheduled city council meeting, which Fernandes learned came to an intense, abrupt ending Tuesday evening.

Fernandes has reached out to Sadler Jones for comment about Willis and Williams’ allegations, but she has not been able to respond due to the council meeting.

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