Suspended City Attorney Rachel Michel says she is now the “former” city attorney, having received a letter of termination for cause, effective Thursday, from McComb Mayor Zach Patterson.
The letter was not immediately available to the Enterprise-Journal.
Michel said it listed the same allegations as a Nov. 21 letter from interim City Attorney Angela Taylor Miller to selectmen that was reprinted in the Enterprise-Journal this week.
That letter was made available by Patterson as part of a complaint for declaratory judgment filed in Pike County Circuit Court seeking judicial clarification on questions about the city’s charter.
Michel said the termination for cause was in relation to her refusal to act as prosecutor in a disciplinary hearing for Assistant Police Chief Greg Martin.
“It appears the mayor and I have differing interpretations of the code,” Michel said today. “I’ve said that before, and I believe half of McComb agrees, perhaps more than half. … The gist of it is that, obviously, he feels justified in not only the suspension, by a termination even, and my response to that is I am confident that I’ve represented the city in a competent and efficient and responsible matter.”
Michel said she couldn’t comment on some of the specifics of her defense until an actual legal proceeding because the allegations against her involved legal counsel provided to the city and thus remained under attorney-client privilege.
“Even when my client is being difficult, I still owe them protection,” she said. “Much like when you go to a doctor. … Even if you choose to go to another doctor, that doesn’t give them carte-blanche to talk about your records. … Every duty that I owe to every client, I owe to them up to the point of termination, and I’ll honor.”
But Michel did offer a broad defense.
“Every allegation in that letter is meritless,” she said. “Every one. One of the allegations of the assignments that I didn’t complete was assigned approximately two days before I was suspended. That’s the departmental personnel budget — if having it in the overall budget was sufficient for the selectmen or if it needed to be itemized.”
Said Michel: “I look forward to an opportunity where I can candidly answer every allegation.”
