City Council Calls Special Meeting For ‘Personnel & Potential Litigation’
Just hours before police chief Freddie Blackmon’s 5:00 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, April 5 to either accept or reject the generous severance package offered to him by Mayor Skip Henderson, the Columbus City Council called for a Special Meeting to be held in executive session on Thursday, April 6, at 3:00 p.m. The meeting was called to discuss ‘personnel and potential litigation.’ This is a breaking story. Stay with the Muckraker and check back for updates.
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An artistic expression of Columbus, Georgia’s mayor, Skip Henderson, superimposed on a colorized image of the city council chambers located at the City Service Center off Macon Road. The Columbus City Council called for a special meeting to take place on April 6, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. to discuss ‘personnel and potential litigation.’ The meeting was called just hours before police chief Freddie Blackmon’s deadline to accept the city’s severance offering.
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Muscogee Muckraker
By
Muscogee Muckraker
Published
April 5, 2023
Updated
April 6, 2023 4:40 PM
ET

Residents may voice their concerns for the extreme levels of racial division being used as a political tool to achieve unjust racial political ends by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 4:40 p.m. — The full resolution concluding Blackmon's tenure as Chief of Police, as read by City Attorney Clifton Fay, is as follows:

WHEREAS: The council of Columbus, Georgia has recently discussed a severance agreement with Columbus Police Chief Freddie Blackmon;

WHEREAS: Chief Blackmon has indicated his formal acceptance of the Severance Agreement;

NOW, THEREFORE, The Council of Columbus, Georgia hereby resolves:

  1. This council hereby approves all terms of the (inaudible) Severance Agreement and authorizes payment of $400,000 and receipt of other benefits contained in said agreement. 
  2. Chief Blackmon will retire effective April 30, 2023, and will take paid leave as of April 6, 2023.
  3. The Agreement shall be filed with the Clerk of Council upon execution by all parties. 

Stay with the Muckraker as we continue to cover this developing story.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 4:23 p.m. —City attorney Clifton Fay read a resolution into the record that stated the following facts:

  • Chief Blackmon has accepted a severance offering in the amount of $400,00;
  • Chief Blackmon will retire effective April 30, 2023 and will no longer be the Columbus Chief of Police.

The resolution was then put for a vote to the city council, which passed unanimously.

Mayor Henderson then thanked Blackmon for his 37 years of service to the city.

The meeting was then adjourned at 4:19 p.m.

Stay with the Muckraker as we continue to cover this breaking development.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 4:16 p.m. — Council has exited executive session at 4:16 and has now reconvened publicly. The executive session lasted 1 hour and 12 minutes, from 3:04 p.m. until 4:16 p.m. No votes were taken in executive session.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 3:59 p.m. — We are now approaching one hour since city council entered executive session. The council will reconvene publicly once they come out of executive session. Stay with the Muckraker as we continue to cover this story.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 3:08 p.m. — The meeting has begun and the council has entered executive session. A small handful of members of the public are in attendance. 

The council will reconvene publicly once they come out of executive session. 

Stay with the Muckraker as we continue to cover this story.

UPDATE: 4/6/23 at 2:30 p.m. — The special meeting called by city council is slated to begin in thirty minutes. Though the bulk of the meeting is expected to be in a closed-door executive session, you should be able to watch the meeting’s beginning along with its possibly eventful conclusion live on CCG TV’s YouTube channel.

UPDATE: 4/5/23 at 2:10 p.m. — City council has published the agenda for the special-called meeting to the city’s website. The  agenda lists just a single item, which is:

“Motion to go into executive session to discuss matters of personnel and potential litigation.”

Stay with the Muckraker for more updates as this story continues to develop.

COLUMBUS, Ga. —  The Columbus City Council called for a Special Meeting to be held in executive session on Thursday, April 6, at 3:00 p.m. The meeting was called to discuss ‘personnel and potential litigation.’

The meeting is to be held at the City Service Center located off Macon Road.

The meeting was called just hours before police chief Freddie Blackmon’s 5:00 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, April 5 to either accept or reject the generous severance package offered to him by Mayor Skip Henderson.

Should any votes take place within the closed executive session, they must be disclosed to the public immediately following.

This is a developing story. Stay with the Muckraker and follow this story for updates as the situation continues to develop.

This story was originally published on April 5, 2023 at 1:45 p.m.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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© 2023 Muscogee Muckraker. All rights reserved.

Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see all the muck that’s fit to print as it breaks throughout the coming week.

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