60-day suspension off the table for East Point Mayor Pittman - CBS Atlanta 46

60-day suspension off the table for East Point Mayor Pittman

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EAST POINT, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -

Some residents in the city of East Point described Tuesday's City Council meeting as a fiasco.

The council was supposed to vote on whether to suspend Mayor Earnestine Pittman for 60 days over ethics violations, but instead they started arguing about whether they could even do that. 

This comes after an ethics officer found Pittman guilty of violating the city charter and the law, but now it's back to the drawing board for the special committee.

"We have been given a legal opinion that the recommendation that the committee has offering cannot be given to the mayor at this time," said council member Marcel Reed.

The city's attorney says the council can reprimand, censure or have Pittman removed from office, but they cannot suspend her.

Once the 60-day suspension was taken off the table, Councilman Lance Rhodes quit the special committee that recommended the suspension in the first place, and now council member Alexander Gothard has been placed on the committee.

That new committee has 48 hours to come back with new recommendations, if any at all, against Pittman.

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