City Council reacts to Stone Mountain city manager’s resignation

Decaturish contacted the Ex-City Manager for comment on her time with the City of Stone Mountain. 

Tyus said, “It’s been a learning experience, it’s an amazing city… the citizens, staff…even council. It’s been amazing learning experience.” 

The council’s reactions to the resignation varied. 

While announcing it, Mayor Beverly Jones said, “We all need to progress and sometimes people need to let go and let their wings fly.” 

Councilmember Anita Bass said she was “shocked”

“I really appreciated her leadership and character, she took the city to a whole ‘nother level in allowing us to really flourish,” Bass said.

Tyus was appointed in September 2022 and was in the job for a little less than two years before her resignation. During Tyus’ tenure the city has been able to begin the process of catching up on past-due audits—completing the Audit 2022 and the beginning 2023. Stone Mountain City also had a significant amount of state and federal funds that had not been allocated, that Tyus led the process of assigning to programs to repave Stone Mountain Streets and refurbish park facilities.

While the resignation was sudden, the tension between the council as a body and the city manager had been rising for quite some time, escalating at times to yelling and heated exchanges during council meetings. 

Relationships really began to sour around a year ago, in July 2023, over the discussion of the implementation of speed bumps on Rockborough Road. The city manager communicated that she didn’t believe the requisite number of signatures had been submitted to her office, and multiple councilmembers felt as if she was stonewalling the project. 

Loud, harsh words were exchanged, prompting Denise Philips, current DDA Treasurer, to comment on the “distressful” nature of the discussion during public comments at the next meeting. 

The Roxborough Road matter has advanced—though still unresolved—but this marked the low point of the council’s relationship with the city manager, and from here, the relationship never really recovered.

There was also a lack of agreement on the roles and responsibilities of Stone Mountain City’s form of government. 

In 2009, Stone Mountain switched to a Council-Manager form of government. Under this system, the mayor and council set legislative priorities, and the city manager enacted them.

This form of local government is also sometimes referred to as a “Weak-Mayor” system, as the mayor is not directly in charge of city staff or running the city on a day-to-day basis.

Yet, Former City Manager Tyus and Mayor Jones—along with several members of council—repeatedly clashed about what exactly constituted “directing staff.”

Decaturish asked Tyus if these tensions contributed to her resignation, and she said, “No. Right now, I just need to pay attention to my health.”

Two of the City Manager’s most vocal critics, Councilmember Teresa Crowe and Shawnette Bryant, wished her well.

Councilmember Ryan Smith indicated Tyus’ departure will be disruptive to Stone Mountain’s government.

“I’m sorry that she’s gone,” he said. “Contrary to what other people think here, I think she’s done a good job for the six months I have been here. I think that we’ll find out she’s more important than some people realize.”

Councilmember Mark Marianos said,  “We’re going to miss her.”

“I think she was a great addition to the city,” he said. “I enjoyed working with her and wish we had more time.”

Councilmember Gil Freeman offered no comment.

The council did not discuss replacing Tyus or who would be the interim city manager now that she is gone. During the meeting, City Clerk Shawntez Edmondson acted as city manager, but it’s unclear if he will continue as acting city manager. 

Edmonson wished Tyus well.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude and best wishes to Darnetta Tyus as she resigns from her role as City Manager of Stone Mountain,” he said. “Darnetta’s dedication and leadership have significantly enhanced our community, and her contributions will be deeply missed. We thank her for her hard work and commitment, and we are confident she will continue to excel in her future endeavors. Best of luck, Darnetta, and thank you for everything you’ve done for Stone Mountain.”

The council held a closed-door meeting, known as an executive session, and may have discussed the situation. 

In other news: 

— Council discussed the Village Green (the property formerly known as the Baptist Lawn located across from Main Street). 

Councilmember Crowe wants the city to open the gates to the greenspace, so citizens can begin using it, but city staff—mainly Chief of Police James Westerfield Jr. and Edmondson—wanted to clarify what the rules and plan for maintenance of the property would be before opening it. 

There was also some debate on city council if the Village Green would be kept as a property directly overseen by council. The role of the Parks and Recreation committee was also discussed, as not everyone seemed aligned on the extent of their oversight capacity. 

– The President of the PTA for Stone Mountain Elementary School withdrew the request for sponsorship from the council.

– The City Attorney said he had reviewed the mayor’s credit card use and said that what was purchased was in line with state law. He found that the city had not actually adopted an ordinance that gave them the authority to issue credit cards.   

The city council also:

– Approved the Purchase and Installation of the 4th Street Traffic Calming Devices totaling $24,973.01 using American Rescue Plan Act Funds. 

– Approved a contract with DebtBook Services for a premium of $3,000.00 a year; for a 3-year term, totaling $9,000.. This is to ensure that the city is complying with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

– Ratified a change order for Main Street Paving amounting to a total of $14,793.60 using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) I funds. 

– Approved the purchase of a 100kw Generator for City Hall for  $139,230 through ARPA Funds. 

This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.