HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The city council is in executive session Saturday night after an investigation into charges of misconduct by the Stockbridge mayor presented a string of explicit text messages with a high school student.
Records showing Mayor Jayden Williams used the city’s purchasing card on restaurant outings, clothes and going to the movies were also presented at the hearing.
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Williams answered questions about the accusations during a hearing before city council and a judge Saturday. He faces no criminal charges, but councilmembers could vote on whether to oust the 23-year-old mayor, who took office in January.
The city accuses him of spending more than $4,000 on the city’s credit card for himself and charging more than $2,600 on the city’s fuel card for personal trips. Williams is also facing allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old male high school student who sought a mentorship with the mayor.
Robert Ashe, an attorney representing the city in the proceeding, confronted Williams with the text and Instagram messages he exchanged with the teen in December, when Williams was still mayor-elect.
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The student congratulated the mayor on his win and expressed his interest in local government, with Williams giving him his personal cell number and texting, “Bro! I’m making you one of my mentees now.”
But the messages soon turned sexually suggestive. Williams asked the student if he had a girlfriend and whether he “ever had sexual relations with a guy.”
They also began sending photos and videos of each other using an Instagram feature that makes the images vanish after one viewing, often with responses that included hearts and drooling face emojis.
Ashe asked Williams if they included photos of himself nude, to which the mayor said, “I don’t recall.” Williams did admit the images were “explicit.” He said he also couldn’t remember if he received any nude photos of the student.
“Is getting nude photographs via text message so unremarkable to you that you don’t remember when you get them?” Ashe asked.
“It is not memorable nor abnormal for somebody my age to send – actually, at this time, I was at Clark Atlanta (University) so that’s not abnormal for someone my age,” Williams said.
At one point the text exchange, the mayor wrote in all capital letters: “THIS BETTER STAY BETWEEN US TOO.”
The student texted the mayor in January to say he did not a distraction to his job, but that they could “remain friends with benefits.”
Williams also had to answer questions about his use of city funds and whether he read the policy on using the purchasing card. The mayor said he had not.
“So you have never read the City of Stockbridge purchasing and ethics policy? Is that your testimony?” Ashe asked.
“Correct,” Williams replied.
“You’ve been in office now since January and you never bothered to read the city’s purchasing and ethics policy?” Ashe said.
“I never received a copy of it,” Williams replied.
“Did you ever ask for a copy?” Ashe asked.
“I asked for all things I should know as mayor when I first got elected,” Williams said.
Ashe read a list of charges put on the city’s purchasing card, including a $322 Father’s Day dinner with family at a McDonough restaurant, haircuts, clothes and clothing alterations, a Lyft ride, and a movie outing.
Williams said he used the card “not intentionally” for personal expenses and reimbursed the city while maintaining other charges involved his official duties.
Ashe then focused on his use of a city vehicle, saying Williams checked out a city car for 183 days between January and July and racked up $2,600 in charges on the fuel card.
The mayor’s attorney, Robert Kenner, told councilmembers that the city provided “no comprehensive formal training” for Williams, who had no experience working in local government.
“We concede that he could have asked more questions,” he said. “But there’s a difference between misunderstanding and removal from office.”
Four of the five city councilmembers could decide whether to remove him from office after the hearing. The judge earlier granted the mayor’s request to remove one councilmember from the panel, Lakeshia Grant, saying she showed bias and “animus” against the mayor.
That includes an email sent to the mayor in which she tells him, “I can be your friend or your enemy. Your choice.” The mayor also said Gantt called his grandmother, urging her to tell him to resign.
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