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Longtime Mosses Town Clerk Lucile Smith has resigned from her office, delivering notice to town leaders at a special called meeting held June 10. Her last day of official duties, June 17, marked the end of her time in an office she has held since February 2019.

Smith cited personal reasons leading up to the decision to end her term of office, the most important of which she described as a toxic work environment.

“Part of [my decision to resign] does have to do with a family member who had a stroke and needs my help, and I have health issues,” Smith said. “But it’s mostly because of the toxic environment that I’m exposed to practically on a daily basis.”

According to Smith, Mosses Mayor Harold Bell’s actions contribute to what she feels is a toxic environment.

“He just stands in the way of progress, and if it’s not his way, it’s no way at all,” she said.

Bell said Smith’s resignation was quick and that he was working to get someone to fill the gap.

“I hate for her to leave right now, because it’s kind of put us in a bind,” he said. “But sometimes, things just happen.”

For Smith, the occurrences leading to her resignation began as far back as she can remember during her time in the office. She recalled several times when it seemed to her that he abused his power as mayor.

“Around 2021 or 2022, we had a chief of police in Mosses,” Smith recalled. “The mayor did not want him here, so he kind of picked a fight with him, causing him to go ahead and resign. We have not had a standing police department [since then] and the council asked me to place an ad in The Lowndes Signal for a clerk and a police chief. It ran for one week and he called to ask them to pull it.”

On another occasion, Smith said council members requested she facilitate a special called meeting, following an established protocol for doing so.

“He did not like it,” she said. “He came in asking who was in charge. After council members left, he lit into me and was yelling at the top of his voice. [Later] he started a confrontation with me and made it seem like I was being insubordinate. The next thing I knew, he had called the league [asking] for information on how a clerk could be fired.”

Mosses Town Councilperson Janice Patterson said conflict between Smith and Bell had been going on for some time.

“It’s been a back and forth battle between the clerk and the mayor,” Patterson said. “She just said that at this time, she is ready to give it up unless someone else comes in and takes over. She submitted her letter of resignation [at the June 10 meeting] but said there were loose ends she needed to tie up. She extended her resignation for another week [to June 17] but effective as of that night she was resigning.”

Smith’s resignation left a vacancy in the office and town leaders are advertising to hire a replacement. Meanwhile, at a June 19 meeting, Bell told Mosses Town Council members he had contacted the Alabama League of Municipalities and was advised he could appoint an interim town clerk until the council voted on a replacement.

Bell has appointed Laura Ptorney of Gordonville, who he told council members had applied for the position two years ago, to serve as interim clerk. Ptorney was present at the meeting and introduced herself to the council.