A sense of power may have gone to the head of one mayor in Georgia. Lake Park Mayor, Jena Sandlin ordered a city employee to use a fire truck to water some plants. Now authorities are outraged over the misuse of an expensive emergency vehicle. 

Georgia mayor orders uncertified city worker to misuse fire truck 

Mayor Jena Sandlin of Lake Park has been busted with the misuse of a fire truck. She went to the firehouse with a city maintenance worker and ordered them to use a fire department tanker to water plants in the highway median. 

The fire chief told her that she and the employee couldn’t take the truck. However, Sandlin didn’t listen. No one notified dispatch when the truck was taken and the firehouse was left unsecured. Plus, the city was put at risk for a significant liability. 

A few hours later the chief received a text saying that the truck was being used in the median as a city employee drove it with the mayor’s car behind it. 

According to WTXL, the employee wasn’t certified to operate the 62,000 lb truck meant for emergency situations, not landscaping. The truck holds about 6,000 gallons of water. It could have easily caused a deadly accident. 

This incident led to an impeachment effort that fell short. Sandlin remains in office after the impeachment failed by one swing vote. But local officials are outraged. 

Reportedly, they’ve been calling for the mayor to resign over other controversies. They shared that this wasn’t a mistake, it’s a pattern in a hostile environment.