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East Point Residents Create Petition Urging City Council To Request A GBI Investigation Into City Funds, Demand City Manager’s Removal: Redmond Jones’s Previous Firing In Florida Gains Focus

By Staff Report / September 28, 2026

A citizens group that identifies itself as “East Point Residents for Change” has initiated a petition that implores the East Point City Council to request a GBI investigation into the city’s finances; the group is also requesting that the council remove City Manager Redmond Jones, who was placed on indefinite leave by the council earlier this month:

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“If you or I received public money we were not entitled to, the City would expect us to pay it back. The same standard should apply to the person running our City.
Redmond Jones’s contract allowed a $500 monthly car allowance. He was not entitled to an additional $500 a month, yet he received that extra amount for 19 months—a total of $9,500 in unauthorized payments. The Council ordered him to repay that amount.
His contract also did not entitle him to overtime or comp time. Yet 64 hours of comp time, valued at $6,252.31, were added to his leave balance. The combined value of the unauthorized car allowance and comp time at issue is $15,752.31.
Only five Council members were present at the September 21 meeting. A motion to direct the City Attorney to request an independent GBI criminal investigation into financial irregularities and misuse of public funds the motion failed, with Councilmembers Eric Friedly and Shean Atkins voting NO. That vote left residents asking: What is there to hide?
East Point taxpayers deserve answers and equal accountability. We demand that the Mayor and City Council request a GBI investigation and remove Redmond Jones as City Manager through the process provided by his contract and applicable law.
If you would be held responsible for money you were not entitled to receive, shouldn’t Redmond Jones be held accountable the same way? Sign this petition and demand accountability for East Point taxpayers”.
-East Point Residents For Change Petition

east point residents for change petition—-Change.org

The issue of the city’s finances has come under broader discussion after the legislative body discovered that Jones was reportedly overpaid for his monthly car allowance and also received overtime pay although as a salaried city employee, he would not be eligible for overtime payments. The city council has said the amount totals more than $15,000 in taxpayer funds.

The council made his suspension indefinite pending an investigation into the details surrounding the expenditures.

Meanwhile, Jones’s suspension and potential firing has become a polarizing issue within the East Point community as some residents have come to Jones’s defense while many others have for months voiced concerns and asked questions about the city’s spending priorities under Jones’s leadership.

Jones’s 2016 Firing In Florida Becomes An Issue

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Jones’s critics have also pointed out that a decade ago, he served for two years as the City Manager of Groveland, Florida, but was terminated “for cause” after city officials claimed that he sought to cover up alleged credit card misuse by the city’s then-police chief, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The city’s police chief was accused of allegedly using a city credit card to improperly charge over $1,100 in hotel stays. It was the city’s mayor at the time who publicly accused Jones of trying to conceal the police chief’s actions, per reporting by WFTV 9.

According to the news station, once the chief’s credit card use came to light, Jones sent an official letter saying the money had been repaid to the city, a claim the city’s mayor said was not true.

It was after Jones’s letter that the police chief allegedly wrote two checks to the city, the mayor said at the time.

The mayor, Tim Loucks, went on to label the situation a “cover-up”.

“I was approached by two employees and (they) told me that the city manager had asked them to make this go away, and that put up a huge red flag for me,” Mayor Loucks said in a news interview as the scandal grew. “I view it as a cover up, a complete cover-up.”

The city’s police chief resigned in September of 2016. A month later, Jones was fired in a 3-2 vote by the city council.

Jones filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 in damages in what he called a wrongful termination.

The Groveland City Council later authorized a 6-week severance payment for Jones while upholding the terms of his termination.

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