On Tuesday, Dallas County Circuit Court Judge Don McMillan handed down his final ruling in a case between Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade and Selma Mayor Darrio Melton, stating that Wade must be reinstated to “active service.”

“This is a victory, certainly, for Ronita Wade,” said Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips, who has represented Wade throughout the court battle. “It’s also a victory for the people of Selma and it’s about time they had it. Selma’s biggest struggle has been finances and we need someone that’s going to be a watchdog, a hawk. [This ruling] will help to restore financial accountability and help keep the mayor from making any improper uses of the City of Selma’s finances.”

McPhillips added that the ruling is also a victory for the Selma City Council, which became embroiled in the suit as a secondary plaintiff alongside Wade.

“This decision is a huge victory for the city council,” McPhillips said. “It restores the council’s authority.”

Essentially, McMillan’s ruling stated that the preliminary ruling handed down in May, which required that Wade be restored to her position and afforded all rights therein, should become the final ruling, but the judge laid out his reasoning in a six-page ruling.

The ruling first lays out the facts relevant to the case – that Melton attempted to remove Wade from “the performance of her duties by terminating her employment” on two occasions and, according to law, reported the removal and his reasoning for it to the council.

The ruling states that on each occasion the council “declined to sustain the removal” of Wade from her office and, in September 2018, Melton placed Wade on “indefinite administrative leave with pay” citing an “ongoing criminal investigation” as his rationale.

Moving into legal analysis, the ruling states that the primary question to be answered is if placing the treasurer on involuntary administrative leave constitutes a removal under Section 11-43-81 of the Alabama Constitution that has to be sustained by the council.

The ruling states that it is “clear” that administrative leave is a removal and that the council has full authority in selecting a person to fill the role of treasurer and final say in removing that person from office.

“Both decisions, the selection and removal decisions, about who performs the duties of the treasurer are to be made not by the mayor, but rather by the city council,” the ruling states. “Unquestionably, placing the treasurer on involuntary, indefinite administrative leave removes the person selected by the city council from the performance of the treasurer’s duties. Necessarily, therefore, placing an officer elected by the city council, such as treasurer, on administrative leave must be finally decided by the city council. Otherwise, the mayor, not the city council, is determining who will perform the treasurer’s duties.”

The ruling goes on to state that “any contrary interpretation…would defeat the obvious intent of the statutory scheme.”

“The court finally notes that the mayor’s placing [Wade] on administrative leave after having failed in two efforts to terminate her employment appears to be a continuing effort to remove her from the performance of the duties of city treasurer and, in doing so, avoid the strictures of Section 11-43-81,” the ruling states. “Under the facts of this case, that effort must be rejected.”

“The judge has made his ruling,” said Selma City Councilwoman Angela Benjamin, who was present at Wade’s final hearing. “Let’s move forward together with the business of Selma. That should be our only focus.”

Wade thanked McMillan for ruling in her favor and the Selma City Council for its “full support” in her ability to execute her “fiduciary responsibilities.”

“Now I can peacefully continue to exercise my responsibility of maintaining public trust by safeguarding the city’s finances,” Wade said. “Hopefully, I can continue to work collectively with the council and the mayor to move Selma forward in a positive direction.”

Melton did not respond to a request for comment.