(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Calumet City’s clerk claims recently elected Mayor Thaddeus Jones is trying to bully her out of the job.
“In the last 90 days, I feel I have been harassed, intimidated and retaliated upon,” said Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Figgs said the bullying first started when she brought up discrepancies with the mayor and the Open Meetings Act.
“You have to post meetings at a certain time. You have to disseminate information, and the mayor was not doing this.”
When Figgs addressed the issues with Mayor Jones, she claims he retaliated.
“My duties were taken the next day,” said Figgs. “The mayor sent me a letter and stated that my duties were taken, my staff was taken.”
Figgs says the ongoing mistreatment became so unmanageable that she was “mentally unable” to go to her office and moved her operations to a park across the street.
She is now demanding her clerk duties be restored.
“I would just like for the mayor to correct his behavior, I would like for him to recognize and right his wrong.”
Mayor Jones issued a statement saying Figgs has made several mistakes during his short tenure, including the loss of nearly $3 million in city funds.
“Clerk Figgs is not being bullied,” the statement said, in part. “Clerk Figgs was stripped of her duties in 2012 by former Mayor Michelle Qualkinbush and Alderman J.R. Patton. They both cited Clerk Figgs as being inept and unaccountable.”
Jones’ administration plans to release findings from a forensic audit.
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