Mayor Nancy Depreo and the Diamondhead City Council are at odds over recent conduct by the mayor and her son, which council members said this week was “not a representation of our city, the city administration, or the City Council.”
“This is not something we can ignore,” Council member Anna Liese said at a Tuesday night meeting .
Council members were reacting to video taken by police who responded July 26 to a complaint in the City Hall parking lot. Depreo told police that she asked her son to take photos of cars parked outside the city’s activity center so she could determine if the cars were allowed to be there, according to video and a police report.
A citizen inside the activity center notified police, according the report. Depreo remained in her car as her son told officers he was concerned that the city clerk was letting people use the activity center for free, according to the video. He alleged corruption in City Hall and argued with several citizens, the video shows.
The council on Tuesday voted unanimously to disavow that conduct . Council members said there was no evidence of misconduct by the city clerk and that citizens using the center that day did so lawfully.
Mayor and City Council at odds
The vote reflected growing tension between the City Council and the mayor. Depreo was not present at Tuesday’s meeting and said she was unavailable for an interview this week. In a statement, she did not directly address the July 26 incident but said she was “exhausted from the continuous motions that are added to the agenda that personally attack me from two elected officials that have political aspirations.”
“My suggestion to all elected officials is to get out and work for the residents that elected them to serve,” she said. “Hard work is the path to victory, not trying to destroy your opposition.”
Council member John Cumberland, who filed the motion, said it was intended only to protect city employees and be transparent with the public. Liese, who has said she will challenge Depreo in next year’s election , called the situation unfortunate.
“We found ourselves in a position where the council had to act to try to help minimize liability for the city due to the regrettable actions of one of our own, and we did so unanimously,” she said. “Any suggestion that last meeting’s motion had anything at all to do with the election is an attempt to deflect attention from the issue at hand.”
The Council also read into the record a cease and desist letter filed by an attorney for City Clerk Jeannie Klein. The letter alleges Depreo and her son “have used social media and public communications to intimidate and harass city employees, including Jeannie.”
“There is no evidence of corruption by Jeannie Klein or any other employee of the city of Diamondhead,” the letter says. “Instead, this is another chapter in the ongoing toxic work environment created by Mayor Depreo in her (and her son’s) delusional theory that City Hall is corrupt.”
Conflict affects Diamondhead
Council members and an attorney representing Klein said the tension could harm the city.
“When I was campaigning I expected I would be working to solve drainage problems,” Cumberland said, and “be the voice of my constituents.
“I did not expect to have to be the HR department.”
Depreo, who was elected Mayor during a special election in 2020, said in a July Facebook post that she had not decided whether to seek re-election. In her statement on Friday, she highlighted her achievements as the city’s first female mayor and first female city council member and said she was proud of her legacy.
“I grew up working in a man’s world and clearly understand the meaning when someone says, ‘the good ol’boy system,’” she said. “I will not lower my standards to waddle and draw negative attention to the city that I love so much.”
Council members said they do not want to harm the city but believe the public deserves to understand the tension. Others called it unprecedented in Diamondhead.
“Diamondhead has always had some level of political tension,” said Michael Casano, the attorney who wrote the cease and desist letter. “But nothing to this level.”
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