Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner has filed a petition for preliminary injunction against the city of Columbus and Mayor Robert Smith.
The petition, filed last week in Lowndes County Chancery Court, claims Smith acted outside the scope of his authority in June when he ordered Turner’s city-issued cell phone to be disconnected.
“[Turner] has personal knowledge that respondents have unlawfully interrupted his work phone services and has caused tortuous interference with the [Turner’s] capacity as an elected official,” the petition reads. “The harm is unlawful and [Smith] has no lawful authority to interrupt services.”
The petition seeks “payment for damages and costs sustained in light of the interruption of services,” any further compensatory damages awarded by the court, as well as court costs and attorney fees.
Smith ordered service turned off on June 13 after Turner made a number of inflammatory statements on his Facebook page on June 11, including calling Mississippi District 41 Rep. Kabir Karriem a “b***h.”
“Councilman Turner used the city-owned phone for the data to publish these posts,” Smith said at the time. “Because of that, I am obligated as mayor not to allow the city to fund such activity. That is why I had the service turned off.”
At the time, Smith said he would allow Turner’s phone to be reactivated if Turner turned the phone over to the city’s crime lab for analysis to see if the Facebook posts originated from it. Turner turned the phone in to the city and has since used a personal cell phone.
However, Turner is disputing the mayor’s ability to have his cell phone service disconnected.
“I think he overstepped his bounds,” Turner said. “He should be corrected.”
Turner told The Dispatch on Wednesday the disruption to his phone service interfered with his First Amendment rights and his constituents’ ability to contact him. Turner also noted he was not warned before the service was disconnected.
He said the disconnection was another example of his ward being treated like a “red-headed stepchild.”
“I had thousands of business cards printed with that phone number on it,” Turner said. “They wasted taxpayer money by cutting my phone off.
“Sometimes I would use that phone as a hotspot for the teenagers that hang around — my mentees,” he added. “They could use that, and I think it was good for them. That was another thing that happened that stopped me from being as effective as I can for my ward.”
Turner also said he takes issue with a public reprimand the council levied against him in October 2015 for inflammatory social media posts. He said he believes the council should apologize to him for the reprimand.
“The council and mayor do not have the authority to reprimand a councilman,” Turner said. “I would never try to reprimand a councilman or the mayor because they’re elected officials like I am.”
Pontotoc attorney Walter Zinn is representing Turner in the case.
Zinn said he and Turner sent a letter to Smith in September asking him to turn the cell phone service back on. He said he also called the mayor personally to make the request to no avail.
He said Smith has not provided any written evidence of his authority to unilaterally order Turner’s phone service cut off.
“The question is the legality of it,” Zinn said. “The mayor at no time has ever provided anything in writing to justify the action.
“While the comments were inflammatory, we feel that Mr. Turner is still within his legal rights and the mayor unilaterally acted without authority,” Zinn added.
The city council voted in executive session Tuesday to hire outside council to defend against the suit. City Attorney Jeff Turnage said local attorney Corky Smith will handle the case.
“Since this lawsuit is from a city councilman to the city, it’s best to have outside council to defend it,” Turnage said.
Corky Smith declined to comment to The Dispatch by press time but noted the city had not yet been served with the complaint.
Turner was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. He told The Dispatch on Wednesday his absence was unrelated to the lawsuit.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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