VIDEO: Aberdeen Mayor Speaks On Board Of Alderman Meeting

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI)- Tuesday night’s board of alderman meeting in Aberdeen is still causing quite the commotion.

On Tuesday, the board voted and we reported that the board agreed to have a special election to have alderman Cloyd Garth removed from his seat.

However, Mayor Maurice Howard sees it another way and said there will not be a special election.

According to the mayor, Garth will continue serving the people in Ward 2.

Howard said he and Garth left the meeting when the motion came up, and said therefore, there was not a quorum in place for the board to make the vote.

“At that moment the meeting was already dismissed, we got up and we just left,” said Mayor Howard. “They may have said that they made a vote to remove him, but at this time Cloyd is still an alderman. We are going to let the judges and let the lawyers and the people that gets paid to handle things like that handle that. This is not a mayor matter, it’s not a board of alderman matter, and neither is our city attorney matter, it is a legal matter for the court system and we are going to let them handle that.”

Garth’s spot on the board is in question because of an attorney general’s ruling saying Garth cannot be Superintendent of Hazlehurst Schools and serve on the board.

However, Howard said the AG’s opinion is just that, an opinion and carries no legal weight.

Howard also questions our interpretation that he stormed out of the meeting and locked himself in another room.

While Howard admits he did leave the meeting and go into another room to address a city employee, he claims the door was never locked.