The Ringgold City Council voted unanimously on July 13 to change its charter to require a vote of only four of the six members of the governing body – composed of the mayor and five council members – to remove the city manager from office.
The previous requirement was five votes.
In 2016, state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, helped pass a piece of legislation that made it more difficult for an elected body to fire a city manager by requiring a vote of the supermajority.
“I think what we’re changing it to was perhaps the intent to begin with, but it might have been a misunderstanding between Senator Mullis and who was writing the actual bill,” Mayor Nick Millwood said at the recent meeting.
Prior to 2016, he said, removal of the city manager required a simple- majority vote.