Pleasant Grove City Council
The Pleasant Grove City Council is the legislative body for the city of Pleasant Grove. The five members of the council are elected to four-year terms. They meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Pleasant Grove City Hall.
Council members also serve on three-member committees. Current committees include Finance, Personnel, Streets, Public Safety and Risk Management.
In 2018 the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) notified the city that its method of voting at-large may violate Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The letter prompted Mayor Jerry Brasseale to have city attorney J. D. Terry discuss the matter with the LDF and the Council begin holding public hearings on the possibility of creating electoral districts.
In the 2020 municipal election the city used "cumulative" voting to elect council members after a legal struggle between the city and NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Each voter was allowed to allocate five votes between one or more candidates from the at large pool, with the top five vote-getters winning places on the council. This resulted in the city electing its first three African-American councilors, Yolanda Lawson, Kevin Dunn, and Ray Lassiter.
In 2022, Eric Calhoun, a plaintiff in the 2018 federal lawsuit, was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of another member.
Council members
2008-2012
- Place 1: Phillip Houston
- Place 2: Pete Mosley
- Place 3: Terrie Hicks
- Place 4: Paula Johnson
- Place 5: William Bullion
2012-2016
- Place 1: Phillip Houston
- Place 2: Pete Mosley (resigned 2014 to move to Hoover), Priscilla McWilliams (selected in 2014 to fill Mosely's seat)
- Place 3: Terrie Hicks
- Place 4: Paula Johnson
- Place 5: William Bullion
2016-2020
- Place 1: Phillip Houston
- Place 2: James Crumpton
- Place 3: Kenneth Hatfield
- Place 4: Paula Johnson
- Place 5: William Bullion
2020-2024
- Place 1: Phillip Houston
- Place 2: Yolanda Lawson
- Place 3: Kenneth Hatfield
- Place 4: Kevin Dunn
- Place 5: Ray Lassiter
- Eric Calhoun (appointed August 22, 2022)
References
- Beahm, Anna (August 22, 2018) "'They don't understand my fight': Black Pleasant Grove residents want answers on election method." The Birmingham News
- Beahm, Anna (August 20, 2020) "Pleasant Grove’s all-white city government poise for change with next week’s election." The Birmingham News
- Beahm, Anna (August 25, 2020) "Pleasant Grove makes history; elects first Black councilors." The Birmingham News
- Holloway, Seth (November 17, 2020) "Pleasant Grove Makes History". The Cutoff News
- Levine, Sam (August 25, 2022) "He challenged his all-white city council in Alabama. Now he’s on it" The Guardian