Portland Sun
PORTLAND WEATHER

Council censures Alderman Dillard for racial comment





Dillard

Dillard

The Portland Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to censure Alderman Thomas Dillard for using a racial slur toward his neighbor. Alderwoman Megann Thompson had asked city attorney John Bradley to prepare the resolution.

Prior to the vote, Thompson addressed the council in a prepared statement stating that while she was out of town and missed the March 7 council meeting, she did watch the meeting. According to her statement, she was disappointed by what she saw and said she felt Dillard’s apology was extremely generic and lacked any remorse for the position in which he put the board. She also expressed her disappointment that the other members of the council accepted his apology as satisfactory as hard to take. She did appreciate Alderman Brian Woodall’s statement that he was offended by the actions of Dillard.

Thompson presented Dillard with a list of questions that she hoped he would address. She expressed her hope that his answers would help her and other concerned citizens better understand how he views his accountability as an elected official who has admitted to using a racial slur against a citizen, how he justified his refusal to resign, and how he will respond to issues that could arise in the future based on public perception of him.

Megann Thompson

Megann Thompson

Thompson asked in her first question if Dillard had apologized to the city employees and department heads, who are people of color, that could have been offended by his actions. The second question dealt with Thomas’ not admitting that it was a mistake to use the racial slur. Next, she asked if using a racial slur toward a citizen while performing his or her job would be grounds for termination. Her fourth question concerned how someone might feel about opening a business or becoming a resident of Portland if they were aware of his use of a derogatory term against a citizen.

Finally, she asked Dillard what he believed entitled him to continue holding his council seat when several citizens, including some of his own voters, have expressed a desire for him to resign or for him to be removed by the remaining members of the council.

Dillard told the board that he had spoken to city employees of color and some citizens of color about the situation. He added that Woodall’s speech was generic and asked how Woodall was offended by his words.

In her statement, Thompson said that her takeaway from the last meeting was that Dillard left feeling emboldened and chose to have a public confrontation with the mayor and then publicly bragged about the altercation on social media.

Dillard expressed his frustration at the last meeting when Mayor Mike Callis said for the third time that he would accept his apology.

“I don’t know why a bunch of pale faced people are expecting me to apologize to them or why I have to have you all accept my apology,” Dillard said.

Dillard told the council that there were broader issues and he would be free to discuss them later, but was unable to because of the upcoming case in court.

Thompson told the council that changes need to be made to the city charter that council members should be held to the same standards or higher than employees of the city.

“The city should not be held hostage in a situation of this magnitude and have to settle for a censure resolution because a member of the council refuses to do the right thing and resign or because the wording of our charter is too vague to hold someone solidly accountable for behavior that in my opinion shows unfitness to serve on the board,” Thompson said in her statement.

Thompson added later that if the proper wording were in the city charter that she would absolutely move forward with this council voting to remove Dillard. She added that Dillard had tarnished the reputation of the board and the reputation of the city.

The resolution of censure in part stated, “NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF PORTLAND, TENNESSEE, That Alderman Thomas Dillard is hereby censured for his inappropriate comments as shown on a local news telecast, and it is the will of the City Council that such inappropriate comments never be made by any City alderman, City employee or other City Official.”

The call for the vote on the Censure Resolution was made by Dillard and seconded by Woodall. The voice vote was unanimous.

Leave a Reply