By Shannon Craig
With supporters in red on one side and press on the other, the Savannah City Council special council meeting today to discuss the resignation of City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney began with sides clearly divided.
In the months leading up to this morning’s session, Small-Toney was found to have been mismanaging city funds, delaying filing her personal travel expenses, recommending that unqualified applicants fulfill city positions, and failing to pay almost $6 million of business expenditures.
At a workshop last week, Mayor Edna Jackson and council asked Small-Toney to step down, offering her six months of paid salary if she obliged and two months of severance if she were to be fired. The request was answered with a mix of community backlash and resounding support; some citizens calling the issue a “matter of race.”
Late yesterday evening it was announced that Small-Toney had chosen to resign, but no letter of resignation had been filed by her or her attorney.
The special council meeting began at 10 a.m. in the public chamber of Savannah City Hall, but council quickly dismissed themselves to convene in an executive session to discuss a resignation letter received from Small-Toney earlier that morning. With their absence, attendees were left to speculate, some discussing their support in favor of the resignation, others rehashing the months’ events.
But when council returned and the general public was called to the podium to share their opinions and ask questions, not one person, pro or against, approached the council.
Small-Toney was not in attendance.
After a reading of the resignation letter, a vote was taken to the board and passed with a majority of 6-3 in favor of accepting the resignation. Aldermen John Hall, Estella Shabazz and Mary Osbourne voted against the motion.
Council did however vote a unanimous ‘yes’ to the appointment of Stephanie Cutter as acting city manager. Her tenure will be discussed in the coming weeks.
Mayor Jackson marked the occasion as “a new beginning for all of us.”
“We are not a black Savannah or a white Savannah,” Jackson concluded. “We are a united Savannah.”