Middle Tennessee group seeks to oust mayor, claims abuse of power, corruption in filing

A group of Millersville residents is trying to remove Mayor Tommy Long from office, citing an abuse of power, corruption and dereliction of duty after the city saw a tumultuous start to 2024.

Fourteen people signed an ouster complaint against Long, who has served as the city's mayor since November 2022. Among the complainants are former Millersville Mayor Tim Lassiter, who was arrested April 23 on document fraud charges, and Winston Templet, husband of current Millersville Commissioner Cristina Templet.

In the complaint, filed April 21 in Sumner County Chancery Court, the group claims Long hired unqualified police officers, targeted private citizens, threatened a former assistant police chief's job and used public funds for private gain.

Messages left for Long seeking comment for this story were not returned.

Jack Freedle, the Portland attorney who was fired in January as Millersville's city attorney, is representing the group and said this week that he will prove Long, assistant police chief Shawn Taylor and Sumner County Commissioner Jeremy Mansfield conspired together to help Long abuse his position.

As mayor, Long has refused to schedule special-called meetings requested by Commissioners Cristina Templet and David Gregory to discuss how and why they believe Long is mismanaging Millersville, Freedle said.

"Tommy Long is also personally responsible for hiring (former interim city manager) Tina Tobin, Bryan Morris (police chief and interim city manager), and (assistant police chief) Shawn Taylor. They all were/are incompetent and/or otherwise unfit to hold their respective offices. He hired them because they are his friends," Freedle said in an emailed statement to The Tennessean.

In the ouster filing, Freedle claims that Long's friend, Frank Fox, approached then Millersville City Manager Scott Avery in October 2023, asking the city to pay to fix plumbing issues on his property.

Avery told Long it would be illegal for the city to spend public funds to fix private property, but Freedle claims that Long made the fixes to his friend's property after Avery was fired in January, authorizing a payment of nearly $5,000 without a public vote.

More: Millersville city commission seemingly at war over recent firings, replacement hires

"Tommy Long’s abuse of his official power to benefit his friend, Frank Fox, is Official Misconduct and is a Class E felony," Freedle wrote in the ouster complaint.

What does ouster mean?

The Tennessee constitution states that a county officer can be removed from office for malfeasance or neglect of duty for any wrongful conduct that affects, interrupts or interferes with the performance of official duty via an ouster.

It is a civil proceeding, and as such, the rights granted to defendants in criminal cases are not applicable under ouster statutes.

County officials can be ousted for major or minor infractions, like voluntary intoxication in a public place or for gambling illegally.

Freedle said in a statement that he will have to prove Long committed an act that could support a criminal indictment, regardless of whether the Millersville mayor is ever charged criminally.

Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley told The Tennessean that both parties in an ouster filing determine if they will seek a jury or bench trial, where the judge weighs the facts and makes a ruling.

Whitley said it takes 10 signatures from a city or town's residents to initiate ouster proceedings.

No date had been set for Long's ouster in Sumner County Chancery Court as of press time for this story.

More allegations against Tommy Long

In the ouster complaint, Freedle claims that in the spring of 2023, during the city's annual budget discussion, Long cut the building inspector position held by Tim Lassiter, an action the ouster attorney believes wasn't financially motivated.

There was no coherent reason for Long, Vice Mayor Milton Dorris and then Commissioner Keith Bell to cut the position, Freedle claims, insisting the action was taken as a personal vendetta against Lassiter.

Another position eliminated by Long, Dorris and Bell was Millersville assistant police chief, the complaint said.

At the time of the cut, the job was held by Glenn Alred, who was serving in a part-time capacity, Freedle said, noting in the ouster complaint that Long did not like Alred because Alred was associated with Solaren Security Company, a competitor to Blue Line Security, which is connected to Long's nephew.

The complaint claims that Long pressured Avery to fire Alred, and when Avery refused due to lack of cause, the three men eliminated that position and other part-time police officer positions from the city's budget.

Alred resigned in August 2023 amid an investigation into claims he was working full-time without law enforcement certification.

During the Millersville March 11 work session, Long hired Taylor as the city's assistant police chief and, at that time, he said he never eliminated the position.

Targeting private citizens, hiring issues

The ouster complaint claims that Long became more involved in giving direct orders to city employees after Tobin's appointment as interim city manager. It says Long targeted Winston Templet by disrupting his work on a construction site through the issuance of stop work orders.

After Tobin took office on Jan. 23, several city leaders were fired, including then police chief Robert Richman, fire chief Brandon Head and Freedle. City recorder Holly Murphy was, at one time, placed on leave. Murphy would eventually resign, citing the city's financial woes as a direct cause.

After Morris' appointment as city manager, Taylor took over most of the day-to-day operations for the police department, he told The Tennessean last month.

Freedle argues in the ouster complaint that Taylor is not certified because he has not worked full-time in law enforcement in more than three years and had not completed continuing education training since 2019.

Hiring a person to act as a police officer who does not meet the minimum requirements to be a police officer is a Class A misdemeanor, the ouster complaint notes.

Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Millersville group seeks to oust Mayor Tommy Long, claims corruption