A long-simmering dispute between the mayor of Bayou La Batre and the city council escalated in the spring of 2015 after revelations about an unauthorized loan collided with an explosive allegation of physical contact during a public meeting.
The trouble traces back to the previous December, when Mayor Brett Dungan quietly secured a $50,000 line of credit to help cover payroll for the city’s roughly 50 employees. Council members say they only learned of the arrangement months later, and many felt it had been pushed through without the collective approval municipal law requires. Critics on the council describe a pattern of the mayor moving quickly on initiatives without bringing the full body along, a complaint that resurfaced dramatically during a May 14 council meeting.
At that meeting, a debate over how to handle a federal grant application turned heated. The funding was intended to help remove roughly 20 derelict vessels cluttering waters around the fishing community, but the proposal would have handed administrative control to the local port authority, an idea the council resisted. According to a councilwoman who was present, the disagreement escalated when the mayor grabbed her arm several times and raised a gavel in her direction. She has since filed a harassment complaint, and three witnesses gave statements to sheriff’s deputies backing her account, which investigators say is consistent with an audio recording of the meeting.
The mayor turned himself in to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office after a warrant was issued for his arrest, though through his attorney he has denied improperly touching the councilwoman or committing any crime during his time in office.
The fallout has since spread into the courts. The mayor is suing four of the five sitting council members after they voted to strip him of authority to sign contracts and manage the city’s financial accounts, moves the council made following the loan disclosure. He has also hired a new city attorney and dismissed a top aide. In his filing, he argues the council majority acted unconstitutionally in curbing his powers.
Not every council member has taken sides publicly. One member who was not named in the lawsuit said only that there are “too many pieces to this puzzle” that will eventually surface during legal proceedings. Other members point to a broader breakdown in communication at city hall, saying regular email updates from the mayor’s office have all but stopped in recent months.
Beyond the harassment complaint and civil suit, the matter has drawn additional scrutiny. A councilwoman recently turned over records to the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, and the Alabama Ethics Commission has begun what investigators describe as a preliminary review rather than a formal investigation, with officials saying the next steps depend on what that review finds.
City council members are expected to reconvene the following week, with the rift between the legislative and executive branches of Bayou La Batre’s government showing no signs of narrowing.