Small Alabama city is bizarrely thrust into national spotlight as two feuding men claim to be in charge

An ongoing feud between two men claiming to be in charge of a small Alabama town has put the community in the national spotlight.

Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton and City Manager John C. Brown have been feuding for more than a year — just one of many bizarre controversies plaguing the small Jefferson County town of about 6,000 residents.

Newton was appointed mayor in 2020 and Brown was given the title of city manager on June 6, 2023.

The day after Brown was appointed, Newton filed a lawsuit against him, claiming the City Council “illegally” placed Brown in his leadership position.

A judge later issued a temporary restraining order against Brown, preventing him from taking Newton’s place as “King of Tarrant.”

Both men, who refuse to talk to each other, will now have to litigate their issues before the Alabama Supreme Court.

“He’s sending emails to employees and they’ve been instructed to send all those emails to me, and I’m not bothering to respond,” Newton said. AL.com.

The legal battle between Newton and Brown began last summer when the mayor sued Brown for taking over as city manager from Tarrant — a position that was voted on by council members.

Judge Pat Ballard ruled in favor of Newton, stating that the city council could not hire someone else to do its job.

In turn, Brown lost his job, his $100,000 annual salary, and had his bank account wiped out to pay his $78,000 in legal fees as ordered by Ballard.

Brown appealed the case and it was soon transferred to the state Supreme Court. The judge has now paused the seizure of his account.

Newton said the case before the Supreme Court only concerns Ballard’s order to withdraw money from the former city manager’s account and does not mean Brown can get his job back.

“The stay doesn’t mention anything about his work,” Newton said.

“So as far as I’m concerned, the judge’s order still stands that he was wrongly hired by the city and he doesn’t have the legal authority to serve in the role of city manager, so we don’t have a city manager.”

The mayor said the city is “embroiled in the case before the Supreme Court” and it is too late for Brown to secure bond as part of his appeal process.

Meanwhile, Brown’s attorney, Scott Morro, said his client has a right to return to work.

“We are confident that in the long term, John Brown will become Tarrant’s city manager according to the law, and not according to the narcissistic insistence of one man who wants to be the king of Tarrant,” Morro said.

‘He is back with the blessing of the city council, but is being ignored by the mayor. The mayor calls meetings and tells everyone not to do anything he says, but their time will come.”

Morro added that he is in the process of obtaining a bond and a letter of credit for Brown.

‘The effect is that the bank says: ‘We will retain this amount.’ We have already received the appeal letter and we are waiting for the bond, so once the bond is issued, the underlying judgment will be stayed,” Moro told AL.com.

DailyMail.com contacted Newton and Brown’s attorney, Morro, for comment.

The struggle for power between the mayor and the city council are not the only problems facing the small town.

In December, a 79-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and harassment after a heated argument with a city worker during a city council meeting.

Novilee Williams was arrested at her home and taken to jail on December 5, just a day after she got into an argument with Shayla Myricks, a city accountant.

Video of the tense encounter at the meeting showed Williams pushing Myricks’ hand away and saying, “turn around, honey.” Associated press reported.

According to the police report, Myricks accused the resident of “fighting and threatening behavior in a public place.”

“There are some rules for some and then there are some rules for others,” Councilwoman Veronica Freeman said after the incident, suggesting it was politically motivated.

“If a particular person is attacked, that’s a problem. They went too far by telling Ms. Williams that.”

Freeman also made headlines after Councilman Tommy Bryant, a white man, called her, a black woman, a “house n*****.”

Video of the encounter showed Bryant becoming angry over a social media post his wife allegedly uploaded with Mayor Newton and Freeman that contained the slur.

Angered that someone in the crowd suggested his wife was making racist comments, Bryant said the word repeatedly during the rally – claiming he was merely repeating what Newton Freeman mentioned in the video.

The mayor denied Bryant’s claim that he made the comment about Freeman.

Bryant said his actions were justified. He also refused to apologize and was non-committal when asked if he was racist.

“It matches what your definition of the word racist is,” he told WVTM. “Which is a big part of the public definition, I could be a racist. But by what the true definition of a racist is, absolutely not.”

About a year after that conflict, Bryant was arrested for allegedly beating Newtown after the mayor made an obscene sexual reference to his wife. Newtown said he was responding to a racist comment from Bryant.

Bryant was found not guilty of attacking the mayor in 2023.

Another controversy involved Tarrant Police Chief Wendell Major, who was suspended three times for insubordination and reportedly had murder and arson charges dropped in several cases.

Major’s lawyers called the accusation “absolutely, 100% false.”