The Marietta council meeting Wednesday was mundane — zoning for a 55-and-older community, the city presenting its certificate for excellence in financial reporting, the rules guiding model homes.
That is, until an item for a change to the city’s ethics code came up. Then the meeting unraveled.
Councilman Reggie Copeland, who represents Ward 5, said the change showed his fellow city leaders were being racist and prejudiced against him, targeting the 56-year-old pastor for disrupting the status quo and being an outspoken black man.
His latest conflict with the council comes after the city spokeswoman, Lindsey Wiles, tried to file an ethics complaint against Copeland. She alleges in a letter that he acted aggressively toward her following a city event and sternly told her to improve at her job.
Credit: City of Marietta
Credit: City of Marietta
The letter Wiles wrote details how Copeland allegedly yelled at her and how she now "feels threatened" if it's just her and Copeland in City Hall alone working in their separate offices.
When asked for comment Thursday, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she feels the letter speaks for itself.
But there’s a problem. Wiles can’t formally file the ethics complaint because she doesn’t live in the city. After that quirk of the city code came to light, causing a few members of the council to scratch their heads, a change was added to the agenda for that night’s meeting. And Copeland fought it all night.
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Copeland said he was disappointed by the other two council members of color, Ward 6's Michelle Cooper Kelly and Ward 1's Cheryl Richardson, not having his back in public. They both disliked his conduct during the meeting. Kelly said she didn't like his antics, and Richardson argued he didn't need to bring up Wiles during the meeting because the proposed code change doesn't specifically mention her.
He was supported by several people during the public comment portion of the meeting who said they were disappointed with the city and felt the council’s discord and racism was obvious.
Ben Williams, the head of Cobb County’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said city leaders all need to get on the same page and agreed with Copeland’s idea of a council retreat that was later shot down.
“There’s trouble in River City,” Williams said, referring to “The Music Man,” a comedy musical that highlights fraud and inefficient government.
Copeland’s animated backers hurled insults from their seats at council members who disagreed with the alderman. There were boos. “Sellout!” one person yelled. A man fell out of his chair while yelling from the back of the chambers — the fire chief helped him up.
Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin called a five-minute recess so everyone would cool off.
Credit: City of Marietta
Credit: City of Marietta
In the end, a majority of the council agreed that anyone, even folks who live outside of the city, should be able to file an ethics complaint against a council member. The change will require a second reading during the October meeting before anything happens.
The argument between Copeland and Wiles, according to the council’s heated conversation and interviews afterward, was precipitated by Copeland not being invited to speak at a late August donor event celebrating the opening of Elizabeth Porter Park, which is inside his ward.
The park is at 370 Montgomery St. on the site of the former Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center —known as "The Canteen" — which served as a space for the historically black Baptist Town community.
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Kelly, who started the effort to honor Porter three years ago, said she left Copeland off the program but thought Wiles would ask him about speaking sometime during the two days of events for the park’s opening.
Copeland declined comment when speaking to a reporter after the meeting.
Kelly said she felt Copeland was doing more to accuse fellow council members than represent his constituents since being elected in November 2017. He took exception to that.
“You have yet to bring one thing forward to work on things you’re passionate about,” she said. Later adding: “You like to showboat, I get it.”
Credit: City of Marietta
Credit: City of Marietta
This is only the most recent instance of Copeland and other council members not getting along.
He filed for a restraining order against councilman Andy Morris following a nose-to-nose shouting match reported to police after a June 11 council meeting. The request also mentioned an April meeting in which Morris allegedly “gestured the middle finger” at Copeland.
Copeland is also suing Cobb County and a county parks worker for $23,400 because of a crash in April 2016 with a county vehicle.
The Wednesday meeting took a turn toward reality television when Kelly said she’d phoned Copeland the night of the donor event that riled him up, but he didn’t respond.
“You were not man enough to call me back,” she said, causing a chorus of “Oooooooh!” from Copeland’s supporters. He didn’t give a substantive response.
“You run your ward. And I’ll run my ward,” Copeland said multiple times during the meeting.
Mayor Tumlin told The AJC after the meeting that that’s not how it works. “A ward does not belong to one of us.”
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When folks came up to speak during public comment portion of the meeting, they said how disappointed they were in their council.
One backer talked about how much Porter meant to her when she was a young black girl who couldn't go to certain parks in Marietta. The woman chastised Johnny Walker, who represents Ward 3, for walking away as Copeland spoke.
Walker said it was because he didn’t like the word racist being used.
The woman fired back saying she knew about racism better than Walker.
The mayor said after the meeting he felt some folks were not used to municipal government and didn’t know how combative council members can act.
“To us, politics is warfare, which is why sometimes you go a little lower than you need to and you (find) you need to improve.”
Below is the letter Wiles wrote:
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