TAYLOR: This past Thursday, Taylor Mayor Robert Lamb and members of the Taylor City Council had a work session. RSN was not present. RSN has learned that it was somewhat heated and left some Taylor City Council Members asking how do they resolve this with a Mayor who does not know what he is doing.
Taylor is a Class 8 city in the State of Alabama. A serious issue the Mayor is getting the citizens in Taylor in possible financial jeopardy is over Mayor Robert Lamb’s termination of Taylor Police Chief James Brazier.
Sworn in at 8 AM, Robert Lamb, now being Mayor, terminated James Brazier as Police Chief. And this termination was a common plan, scheme and design of Robert Lamb as his first official act- after he took the oath of office as Mayor. Last meeting and on February 17, 2026, Lamb is proposing the members of the City Council to employ a new Police Chief.
However, under their Personnel Rules and Regulations and under Alabama Law, Mayor Robert Lamb’s termination of James Brazier appears to not have been legal. And the members of the Taylor City Council are aware after reading their own Personnel Rules and Regulations.
And they better take notice and not follow Taylor Mayor’s advice. Because they are on a path of destruction if following his advise.
And Acting Police Chief Jimmy Hill, who was forced out as Samson Police Chief, has refused to produce or conduct a background check on a former officer’s recent hiring. And Hill has pending complaints on himself before the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The following is from the Alabama League of Municipalities:
Powers of Dismissal
Section 11-43-160, Code of Alabama 1975, states that any person appointed to an office in
any city or town may, for cause, after a hearing, be removed by the officer making the
appointment. Section 11-43-81 states that the mayor may remove, for good cause, any non-
elected officer appointed by him or her and permanently fill the vacancy. However, in State v.
Thompson, 100 So. 756 (1924), the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that where the mayor has been
given the power to make appointments solely on his or her own discretion and without the
approval of the council, the mayor must grant a hearing to the appointee before the dismissal. Of
course, the appointee may waive this right to a hearing.
The mayor may remove any officer for good cause, except those elected by the people, and
permanently fill the vacancy if the officer was elected by the council or appointed with its
consent. In either of these cases, the mayor must report the dismissal to the council and state the
reasons for the action to the council at its next regular meeting. If the council sustains the mayor’s
act by a majority vote of those elected to the council, the vacancy must be filled as provided in
Title 11 of the Code of Alabama. Again, Section 11-43-81 of the Code states that the appointee
must be granted a hearing, which can be waived by the employee, before the dismissal becomes
permanent.
In the League’s opinion, the mayor can cast a vote on the issue of upholding his or her act of
removal for the purpose of documenting the mayor’s position on the issue. However, the mayor’s
vote cannot be counted in determining whether a sufficient number of those elected to the council
approved the officer’s removal. See, Hammonds v. Town of Priceville, 886 So.2d 67 (Ala. 2003).
The mayor may not permanently remove the police chief or any other officials who were not
appointed by him or her but the mayor may temporarily remove such officials pending a hearing
on the question by the council. The mayor may fill the vacancy temporarily by the appointment of
an acting successor who is entitled to pay for services rendered. AGO to Hon. Robert S.
Glascow, July 19, 1956.
The mayor of a city of 12,000 or more in population does not sit as a member of the council
and, therefore, has no vote on questions of appointment or dismissal of officers or employees who
come before the council. The mayor of a city of 12,000 or more in population does not have the
power of veto over appointments made by the council.
The fact that the mayor, who voted and participated in a personnel hearing before the council
concerning an officer’s dismissal, may have had prior and independent knowledge of the dispute
would not, standing alone, be sufficient to support a finding that the officer was deprived of an
opportunity for an impartial hearing. However, the Alabama Supreme Court has held if before
the hearing, a mayor and a councilmember had decided to uphold the discharge of the officer
before evidence was presented, participation of the mayor and councilmember in the council
hearing denied the officer due process. See, Chandler v. Lanett, 424 So.2d 1307 (Ala. 1982); see
also, Guinn v. Eufaula, 437 So.2d 516 (Ala. 1983); Stallworth v. Evergreen, 680 So.2d 229 (Ala.
