The Stockbridge City Council has formally removed Mayor Jayden Williams from office, just 10 months after he took the position as Georgia’s youngest elected mayor. The city announced the impeachment in a statement issued Sunday.
“The City of Stockbridge confirms that the City Council has taken formal action concerning the Office of Mayor,” the statement said. “The Mayor has been removed from office.”
Williams, who recently turned 23, took office in January after campaigning for the seat while still a student at Clark Atlanta University. His removal follows two separate sets of allegations that had already led the council to strip him of certain official privileges on July 17 while an investigation continued.
Purchasing card spending
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Williams was accused of using his city purchasing card for more than $4,000 in personal expenses, including restaurant meals, clothing, haircuts and a movie. He is also reported to have spent $2,600 on gas and to have used a city vehicle for personal purposes.
The spending came to light after city workers flagged unusual transactions involving public funds and alerted management and the city’s legal team.
Williams testified that he did not intend to use city funds and said he later repaid the money, Fox 5 reported. He said the city-issued card closely resembled his personal card and that he had since replaced the cards to prevent future mix-ups.
Messages with a former student
Separately, Williams was accused of exchanging sexually suggestive messages and explicit images with an 18-year-old male high school student. A police report found that Williams did not commit any criminal violation, since the student was legally an adult under Georgia law.
Even so, police referred the matter for administrative review over possible ethics and policy concerns tied to an elected official’s contact with a student in what investigators described as a city-affiliated mentorship program.
Williams disputed that characterization, saying he met the individual before he took office and that the student never took part in the city’s “Mayor for a Day” program, which he said was not a mentorship program.
“The individual was 18 years old at the time of our communication, meaning we were both adults. I met this individual on November 30, 2025, and our online communication occurred before I was sworn into office in January 2026,” Williams said.
Williams was never criminally charged in connection with either matter. His removal ends a tenure that had drawn statewide attention when he became the youngest mayor in Georgia’s history.
