City Government · Taylor, Alabama

Taylor City Government: What Has Happened Since 2025

This page follows Taylor city government from May 2025 to October 2026. It is drawn from news coverage of council meetings, court documents, and firsthand accounts.

For the original news reports, see the News Coverage page. Please read the disclaimer at the end of this page.

2025

A new police chief (May 2025). Under Mayor Billy Snell, the council voted unanimously to hire James Brazier as police chief. Brazier had retired from the Houston County Sheriff's Office, where he commanded the county jail.

An officer resigns (August 2025). I have watched the body cam video of one of the incidents that led to this. On August 15, 2025, at 7:48 p.m., a Taylor police officer was called to a liquor store, where a worker asked that a man be given a no-trespass order. The man's speech was slurred. The officer refused the order and told the man he could leave. He told a bystander that he doubted the man had done anything wrong. He then went into the store and told the worker she had probably been mean to the man. Soon after, an employee of the restaurant next door came to the door and said the man was driving erratically and had almost hit vehicles in the parking lot. The officer then went after him. It is reported that he drove nearly 108 miles per hour without his lights on. The driver was reportedly stopped in Geneva County and taken in for DUI. Chief Brazier told the officer he would have to go before the city council for a disciplinary hearing. The officer resigned before the hearing.

A new administration (November 2025). Snell did not run again after eight years as mayor. Robert Lamb, the city's former code enforcement officer, was sworn in on November 3, 2025, along with new council members Jerry Kelly and Aubrana Peterman. Brazier was removed as police chief that same morning. He appealed to the council and asked that the hearing wait until his attorney could attend. At that first meeting, the council named Kenny Thompson Mayor Pro Tem, filled a council vacancy with Brandon Martin, and reappointed Ann Baxter as magistrate. No acting police chief was named.

The police chief question (winter 2025–26). Attorneys for Brazier and for the city exchanged letters, and the council met in executive session on pending legal matters. In January, with the mayor absent, Councilman John Milner asked for written assurance that a council vote was not needed to remove a police chief. Hiring a new chief was moved to the February 17 meeting. At that meeting, no council member made a motion to hire one. Meanwhile, the acting chief rehired former officer Tim Miller, who later became interim chief.

A Summons Over a Public Handbook (February 2026)

At the February 3, 2026 council meeting, city documents were set out on a table for the public, as at past meetings. One of them was the city's employee personnel manual. During the meeting the mayor treated the manual as something the public shouldn't have. A member of the press there pointed out that it is a public record.

Near the end of the meeting, a woman who attends council meetings regularly asked the mayor why the city had dropped its plan for stray animals. He ended the meeting soon after. She picked up the papers from the public table, including the manual. She says she had done that at past meetings. She left about twenty minutes later.

The next day, February 4, the acting police chief came to her home looking for her. When she called him back, she says, he told her he had watched video of her taking the papers and that she had to return them by 5 p.m. She went to City Hall that afternoon. That same day, Magistrate Ann Baxter signed a summons charging her with third-degree theft of property, with "removal of government property" handwritten beside it. The acting chief signed as the officer who served it. The summons ordered her to appear in Taylor Municipal Court on February 12.

The charge was for taking a copy of the city's personnel manual from a table set out for the public.

On February 17 she came to speak to the council about what happened, and the city clerk told her she would not be allowed to speak. She was handed a form and told that citizens must ask in writing seven days ahead. When council members asked about the rule, the mayor and clerk said it was city policy. They would not say where it came from or who approved it.

After the recall petition. She helped circulate the petition to recall the mayor, which was presented on April 21. She says that since then, Taylor police have repeatedly followed her home after council meetings. On July 8, she says, the interim police chief pulled up behind her on her dead-end street and then passed. On July 10, she says, he came to her home without coming to the front door, walked into her garage, and told a person painting it that there had been a report of people being moved into the garage. I have seen video of the officer in her garage. She says the Houston County Sheriff's Office told her it was a civil matter.

2026

Tension at City Hall (spring 2026). At the March 3 meeting, the mayor had the council chambers cleared when an executive session was requested. Residents were collecting recall signatures outside. On April 21, with the mayor absent, a petition to recall Mayor Lamb was presented to the City Clerk, who said she would ask the probate judge about next steps. Council members also raised questions that night about how a new city attorney, Trant Bullard, had been chosen. By June, the council still had not acted on the recall petition.

Employees leave (spring 2026). In early April, the water department employee who repaired leaks and kept the water system running was fired. He was a longtime, loyal employee with the experience and skill to find and fix leaks that no one else on staff had. Around the same time, a water department employee of seven or eight years quit. She reportedly said the mayor created a hostile work environment.

Votes and procedure (summer 2026). I watched the July 21 council meeting. Councilman Thompson moved to add joining the Houston County Mayors Association to the agenda. The mayor objected and said he would veto it. The city attorney told him the mayor has a vote but no veto. The council voted to join. During a heated exchange, the mayor moved toward Councilman Milner's seat, and Milner blocked him. I was told afterward that the mayor tried to press charges against Milner, and that authorities told him he appeared to be the aggressor. I was also told that members of the public urged Milner to press charges against the mayor, and he declined. In August, the minutes were corrected to include the vote to join the association, which had been left out.

Firings and turnover (fall 2026). By early September, the council had voted to uphold Brazier's termination, about ten months after he was removed. Around that time, the mayor fired the city's longtime Senior Citizens Director, after earlier cutting the job to part time. Before the October 6 meeting, the mayor fired City Attorney Trant Bullard without involving the council. At that meeting, with the mayor absent, council members said they hadn't received agendas in advance. A proposed ordinance requiring a council vote to hire a police chief could not be taken up because one councilman voted against suspending the rules. The item carries over to the next agenda.

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