Four members of Sulphur Springs city council-- including the mayor-- have resigned their posts effective immediately, according to city attorney Jim McLeroy.
Norman Sanders (mayor/ place 3), Erica Armstrong (mayor pro tempore/ place 1), Jimmy D. Lucas (place 2) and Jeff Sanderson (place 5) all turned in resignation letters, McLeroy said. Sanders' letter came Thursday, while Armstrong, Lucas and Sanderson's letters arrived Monday morning, according to McLeroy.
Sanders, Armstrong and Lucas were elected in 2018. Sanderson was elected in 2019.
Although this necessitates that the city hold an election for the open places in May, McLeroy declined to comment further on the developments due to the legally complicated matter at hand.
This development comes just days after an allegedly contentious executive session during which the council discussed personnel matters, specifically the city manager.
The council took no action as a result of the session, which meant that city manager Marc Maxwell would continue to keep his job. At least 100 citizens packed the council chambers and seven spoke in support of Maxwell.
McLeroy would not discuss on record whether or not this session played into the resignation of the council members today.
Maxwell could not be reached for comment.
*An earlier version of this story did not say how many people spoke in favor of Maxwell keeping his job. It was seven people. No people spoke in favor of firing Maxwell at the public forum.