Former Glasgow alderwoman Renna Bean has won her lawsuit against the city council, overturning her November 2 impeachment. It also granted Bean’s request for backpay of $25 per meeting for meetings that took place after her ouster.

An additional request for the city to pay Bean’s attorney fees was denied. However, at the council’s May 13 meeting, she threatened to take the city to court in a separate lawsuit to regain those fees.

“I still to this day do not understand what happened, what reason they had to bring the impeachment,” Bean wrote in a Letter to the Editor that appears on Page 4 of this newspaper. “I asked questions and asked for documentation to back up those questions.”

The court’s May 7 judgment found that the criteria for impeachment were not met, nor was the council’s assertion that Bean had created a hostile work environment, therefore overturning the city council’s action.

Bean ran to regain her seat in the last municipal election on April 2 but was defeated 21-16 by Glasgow resident Jeff Parks.

Bean had criticized the former city administrator for allegedly granting raises to city employees without authorization by the Board of Aldermen on which she served. Further accusations were apparently made toward City Clerk Rebecca Yung, which the council declared created a hostile work environment.

“While it appears to the court that the plaintiff may be fairly accused of being indelicate in making the statements she is alleged to have made at the two Board meetings and in the July 28 email, the court does not find the evidence presented was sufficient to meet the definition of a “hostile work environment for city employees,” Judge Wm. Page Bellamy stated in his judgment.

The judge also noted improprieties in the board’s impeachment hearing, specifically that the proceeding before the Board of Aldermen was not made under oath or affirmation. 

“It is concerning that an event as sober as the consideration of the removal of a duly elected official did not involve sworn testimony. This failure, while perhaps not fatal, calls into question the competency of the evidence presented at the hearing,” the judge wrote.

A related lawsuit by Glasgow Chief of Police Tyler Polson against the city for allegedly stripping away his raise and, therefore, reducing his pay is currently pending. The suit cites Bean’s involvement in his pay reduction. A change of venue to Randolph County was granted in November. The next hearing for the case is scheduled for August 20.