Fired Columbus city manager, mayoral candidate Hugley files discrimination charge
Fired city manager and mayoral candidate Isaiah Hugley has filed a charge of discrimination against the Columbus Consolidated Government with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Hugley alleges racist comments were made against him during the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office investigation of the CCG finance department. He also alleges retaliation led to his firing.
Scott Grubman, Hugley’s attorney, threatened to sue the city for racial discrimination after the Columbus Council voted 7-3 in May to remove Hugley as city manager.
Last month, Grubman provided the city with a draft of the EEOC filing, stating that it would be submitted by July 14 unless the city responded with a “meaningful proposal.” When that deadline passed, Grubman told the Ledger-Enquirer he was working on getting in communication with an attorney for the city to open discussions.
Since then, Grubman has not responded to the Ledger-Enquirer’s requests for more information about the EEOC filing.
The Ledger-Enquirer obtained the EEOC filing through a request under the Georgia Open Records Act.. Ashley Hager, an attorney with Atlanta law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, provided the document to the L-E as CCG’s representative in this matter.
According to the document, the charge of discrimination was filed Aug. 1 to the EEOC. This move is a step toward filing a lawsuit against the city.
Evidence shows no legitimate basis to justify Hugley’s termination, Grubman wrote in the filing. He asked the EEOC to initiate an investigation into the termination or issue a “Notice of Right to Sue.”
This would allow Hugley to proceed with a claim in court to argue his case that the city violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Hugley’s argument to the EEOC
The official filing is much the same as the draft filing Grubman previously released.
Comments Councilor Charmaine Crabb of District 5 made to investigators were used to support Hugley’s argument that he faced racial discrimination.
Crabb told investigators during the finance department investigation there was “skin color”-based discrimination in city hiring benefiting Black people who are members of Historically Black sororities and fraternities. She also questioned the qualifications of Black department heads and referred to Black pastors who spoke during the public agenda of council meetings as “little mafiosos”
Grubman noted Crabb is the councilor who introduced the motion to fire Hugley. He also alleges Hugley’s support for former police chief Freddie Blackmon, who accepted a $400,000 severance package from the Columbus Council two years ago, led to retaliation.
“Soon after Chief Blackmon’s termination, the City — through several of its Councilmembers along with certain City and County employees and others aligned with those Councilmembers — developed a plan to defame, and quite literally frame, Mr. Hugley for alleged misconduct that simply did not occur, as a pretext for his ultimate termination,” Grubman wrote in the filing.
He argues that the internal audit was a “sham audit” and was “designed to harass and retaliate” against Hugley.
Grubman also lambasted the investigation by the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office. He argued that concerns about Hugley’s personal information being leaked were disregarded and that investigators “abused their investigative powers to once again harass, intimidate and improperly retaliate against Mr. Hugley.”
District 1 Councilor Byron Hickey’s questioning of Hugley’s ethics in handling a small-business grant his wife received through the American Rescue Plan was an example of harassment, Grubman argued, adding that Hugley followed the advice of the city attorney.
Grubman said the reasons provided for Hugley’s termination were “vague and pretextual.”
He also included a screenshot of a text message that Columbus Councilor Toyia Tucker of District 4 sent to Countryman, questioning her vote minutes after she voted to terminate Hugley.
“It is unclear why Councilmember Tucker’s first message about the termination — within minutes after it occurred — was to Sheriff Countryman, who should have had no role whatsoever in the Council’s decision,” Grubman wrote. “It’s equally unclear why Councilmember Tucker ‘felt bad’ for terminating Mr. Hugley.”
Countryman did not comment on Grubman’s concerns about Tucker’s text message, when asked after the draft filing was made public. However, he did explain that the finance investigation began at the request of the mayor and city manager against his advice on several occasions.
“My words to them were, ‘once this train leaves the station we can’t turn it around,’” Countryman told the Ledger-Enquirer last month in a text message after Grubman released the draft of the EEOC complaint. “The purpose of an investigation is to be a finder of fact.”
Tucker is unable to comment because of the legal proceedings, she told the Ledger-Enquirer.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 3:16 PM.
