Acrimony is high at Tarrant City Hall as the police chief remains off duty and the latest lawsuit lodged by the mayor against the city council makes its way to court.

Mayor Waymon Newton placed chief Wendell Major on administrative leave Saturday, accusing him of poor performance, including blaming him for contributing to what he called confusion surrounding a shooting last week off Interstate 59 in west Birmingham.

And while Newton claims a victory in a recent court motion, both Major and lawyers for the city council call his litigation unnecessary and frivolous.

“I staunchly refute and will hold the mayor responsible for the groundless allegations made against me,’’ Major said Thursday.

Multiple people were shot on Interstate 59 southbound in west Birmingham on Nov. 10. Earlier that day, officers responded at to a call of a stolen vehicle in Tarrant. That stollen vehicle was later found in Birmingham where four people were shot, including two being critically injured.

Newton said Tarrant dispatchers were unable to enter information into the National Crime Information Center database because the chief had suspended their authority. Major disputed the claim, saying the dispatchers no longer had authority because the mayor removed them from under his supervision.

The NCIC database allows law enforcement agencies to enter and search for information including stolen property, missing, or wanted persons. Newton alleges that law enforcement, before the incident, escalated the situation into a mass shooting because they could not confirm the vehicle was stolen since it was not in the NCIC database.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Ballard earlier this week referred the NCIC dispute (referred to who?) and put the dispatchers back under the police chief’s direction, reinstating their authority to access the NCIC – resolving a major complaint in Newton’s lawsuit.

“Judge Ballard did exactly what we asked him to do,” Newton said. “We were able to get our dispatchers back on NCIC within 30 minutes.”

Still, the overall lawsuit is pending and Major remains off the job. Newton in his filing also seeks to prevent the council from voting to bring back the police chief, which they previously did when he placed him on leave earlier this year.

Lawyers for the city council have asked Ballard to dismiss the court case.

“There’s nothing in the case that indicates that the council had anything to do with any of this,” said council attorney Charlie Waldrep. “He’s trying to make a preemptive strike saying that he should be the sole arbiter of the job performance of the police chief and even though he acknowledges that the council appoints the police chief, he’s the only one who can determine disciplinary action for the police chief, not the council.”

Waldrep said Newton’s request contradicts state code that gives the council authority to vote to reinstate the chief, if they choose.

Major on Thursday responded to the mayor’s lawsuit, which he described as “senseless and baseless.”

As for allegations of dereliction of duty and the issues of NCIC access of dispatcher, Major said the judge’s order unequivocally dismisses any notion of his dereliction of duty leading to the loss of NCIC access for dispatchers.

“The judge’s explicit directive to Mayor Newton to return dispatchers to the police department serves as a resounding affirmation that I was not responsible for the NCIC access issue,’’ Major said. “This incident emphasizes the necessity for Mayor Newton to grasp the intricacies of police procedures before making impactful decisions that affect law enforcement operations.”

Newton in his lawsuit also accused Major of underreporting crimes, especially homicides.

The police chief called that accusation “bizarre” and “irrational” and said, again, it underscores the mayor’s lack of understanding a fundamental principle of law enforcement – that the determination of the cause and manner of death rests with the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, not the chief of police.

“I am perplexed as to why, instead of acknowledging and celebrating the absence of any homicides in the city of Tarrant for over two years, Mayor Newton seems to be fixated on an imagined scenario of homicide,’’ he said.

The lawsuit also alleged employee discrimination complaints against Major.

“My unwavering commitment to upholding the law and acting responsibly in the face of potential harm to children does not equate to employee discrimination,’’ the chief said. “I was sent a videotape of an employee attacking a child and I acted as I have for the past 30 years when I was told about crime.”

“My unwavering dedication to law and order,” he said, “coupled with strict adherence to legal obligations, is my defense against the baseless accusations levied by Mayor Newton.

Newton has asked the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to investigate his claims against Major as he remains off duty.

“That’s going to last as long as it takes the state to come in and do an investigation as to what exactly happened,” Newton said.

The litigation involving the police department is the latest in a series of court actions regarding Tarrant.

Another case is already pending before Judge Ballard where Newton in June sued the council and the newly hired city manager. Newton in that case accused the council of attempting to strip him of his power by hiring a city manager at $100,000 annually to oversee daily activities.

Newton alleges that the council changed the city’s governing structure without either state approval or a referendum by the people of Tarrant.