Fired College Park city manager claims wrongful termination, seeks reinstatement
Fired College Park employees claim wrongful termination
The employees claim there is unethical behavior in the city offices.
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - The fired city manager in College Park says he was wrongly terminated and wants his job back.
Dr. Emmanuel Adediran is accusing the College Park mayor and one of its council members of corruption, collusion and policy violations.
While the mayor and two members of council say the veteran government manager was involved in willful misconduct, but don't give specifics.
FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor talked exclusively to the fired city manager and three other city employees who recently received pink slips from the city of College Park.
Dr. Emmanuel Adediran says he has been a successful government manager in many much larger cities like Miami, Richmond, and North Miami Beach.
He says the alleged harassment he has been subjected to in College Park has been like nothing he has experienced in his 40-year career.
"She stated she is the mayor, and I have to do anything and everything she asked of me. It became a living hell... She started harassing me," Dr. Adediran insisted.
Dr. Emmanuel Adediran alleges the moment he was appointed interim city manager of College Park in January of 2024; Mayor Bianca Motley Broom created a hostile work environment for him. Some of it, he says, was even done publicly.
"In council meetings, she tried to dehumanize me like I am nothing. I let her know look I am somebody and eventually I filed a formal complaint through HR," the veteran employee said.
We found a town hall meeting back in July where Mayor Motley Broom flat out said she did not believe Dr. Adediran should get the permanent city manager position.
"I believe he has worked outside of the scope of his authority. I'll say it here. I don't think he should be our permanent city manager. If he were here, I would say the same thing. I have told him that," Motley Broom asserted.
We looked into the harassment complaint Adediran filed against the mayor.
The city hired outside counsel to investigate the complaint. We obtained the Nelson Mullins document, which concluded an overall toxic work environment exists in College Park. It goes on to say there is a continuing power struggle between elected officials that has become a distraction to effective government, but the firm did not find Dr. Adediran’s harassment allegations against Mayor Motley to be credible.
Fast forward four months, the 67-year-old believes the mayor is now retaliating against him for filing that complaint. It was council member Roderick Gay who made the motion in a very contentious council meeting.
"I would like to move to immediately terminate the city manager's contract with cause. Councilman Gay accused Adediran of willful misconduct and more.
"Actions constituting dishonesty in the Use of city property benefits and interactions with officials of the city of College Park ," Council member Roderick Gay said.
"It's something that he made up. I've never, close to two years that I've worked in the city of College Park, I've never even received a verbal warning... much less a written warning. Nothing. It's nothing but commendations," Adediran insisted.
Councilman Gay did not provide specifics, which is why the mayor pro tem slammed the firing.
"Here again, we see the illustrious leaders of the city of College Park government doing stupid stuff. Not thinking," Mayor Pro Tem Janelle McKenzie firmly exclaimed.
Dr. Adediran says relations deteriorated when Councilman Gay allegedly asked him to compromise his integrity.
"About two months ago, he approached me," the fired city manager exclaimed.
"He sent invoices for people that, for vendors that are unregistered and have never been vetted by the procurement system. To pay them and I refused," Dr. Adediran said.
We reviewed College Park's purchasing policy. The accusations of unvetted vendors that Dr. Adediran spoke of may be unethical, but not illegal.
Ms. Brown says, "I was illegally terminated"
Three other city employees, Rose Stewart, former director of Human Resources; Jerry Silver, former code enforcement supervisor; and Veronica Brown, former purchasing administrator were all fired one day after Dr. Adediran.
They all believe they were wrongly terminated and have filed grievances with the mayor and council to get their jobs back.
"I know that we were unlawfully terminated. There is unethical behavior there. There is a corrupt system of government in College Park," Rose Stewart affirmed.
Councilman Gays did not respond to our requests for comment.
Mayor Motley Broom says terminating a city manager is never taken lightly, but she believes her vote to terminate was in the best interest of College Park.
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The Source: This information was reported by FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor, who conducted exclusive interviews with Dr. Emmanuel Adediran, the fired city manager of College Park, and three other city employees who were recently terminated.