(From left) City Communications Director Mischelle Moyer, Mayor Wanda Williams and Interim Business Administrator Sam Sulkosky during a press conference at city hall last month.
Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams has sued City Council.
The suit, which alleges that council acted outside of its authority by defunding several top city positions, was filed in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday.
The lawsuit comes after a tense back and forth between council and the mayor about the city’s 2026 general fund budget. In December, council passed the budget, after making amendments to remove salaries for Harrisburg’s business administrator, project director for business administration/LERTA and the police bureau’s director of community engagement and relations. Council also zeroed out the city’s portion of funding for the interim director of building and housing development.
Williams then vetoed the changes, but council overrode her veto. Directors of each role, besides the building and housing director who still receives a federal salary, have been terminated. Williams said that she believes the move was a personal attack by council against her.
Williams, in her lawsuit filed by attorney Renardo Hicks, said that council’s action “invades powers assigned to the Mayor/Executive.” Hiring, firing and personnel matters are the mayor’s authority, which council is not legally allowed to execute.
“They need to stop trying to do my job as the administration,” Williams told TheBurg Thursday morning.
However, council President Danielle Hill has maintained that council did not fire the staff, just defunded their positions.
“It was not to move anyone out of those positions,” Hill told TheBurg Monday. “We defunded the roles. That does not mean the people had to be fired. The mayor fired them. They could’ve easily been, maybe moved to a temporary position. There are other positions that are vacant.”
Hill said that council was concerned about the length of time that the interim business administrator and building and housing director were in their roles without council approval. Council also expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the project director for business administration/LERTA and said that the police bureau’s director of community engagement and relations position was redundant and unnecessary.
Williams’ lawsuit notes that the business administrator is a statutory position required by law under the Third Class City Charter Law. In her filing, Williams said that council’s action renders the city unable to fill that position, among the other defunded roles.
“Council did not simply remove real people from necessary work on behalf of the city and its citizens, they directly interfered with the mayor’s ability to fulfill her legal obligations under the Strong Mayor Council Plan A form of government authorized in the Optional Third Class City Charter Law,” the court documents said.
Williams’ filing said that the work that typically falls under these directors is hard to shift to other employees. She has previously stated that their work will now fall to her. The suit also noted a potential negative effect on ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with police and AFSCME employees and possible safety concerns in housing and construction work.
Williams asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment that would deem council’s actions illegal and an injunction that would re-fund the roles. While the court weighs the case, Williams also requested an emergency injunction that would immediately restore salaries to the roles.
Hill said that council has selected legal representation to defend itself.
“Harrisburg City Council feels strongly that mediation should have been held instead of filing a lawsuit,” Hill said in a text to TheBurg Thursday night.
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