Fairfield mayor gains injunction against city council

Fairfield Mayor Ed May II has one an injunction to restore powers to his office removed by the city council in February. Photo by Sam Prickett/courtesy of Weld: Birmingham’s Newspaper.

The balance of power in Fairfield’s city government has temporarily been restored after a Jefferson County circuit court granted Mayor Ed May II a preliminary injunction against the city council.

According to a report from BirminghamWatch, Monday’s injunction will restore powers that the city council had stripped from May in February. It also reverses the council’s decision to appoint City Clerk Mary Roberson as city manager.

Fairfield has been in crisis for years, following the drastic scaling back of U.S. Steel’s presence in the city, as well as the loss of Walmart, which contributed roughly a third of the city’s tax revenue base. Infighting in the city’s government led to a turnover after 2016’s municipal elections — including the election of May as mayor, who succeeded Kenneth Coachman — but the tensions between the branches of the city’s government have only gotten worse.

Read the full report from BirminghamWatch on Monday’s injunction here.