Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is expected to announce her resignation at a news conference Tuesday morning, The Tennessean reports.
The expected resignation comes after the 54-year-old pleaded guilty to felony theft of property over $10,000 in relation to her admitted affair with her former police bodyguard. Barry’s plea came with an agreement to reimburse the city and serve three years’ probation.
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The mayor’s plea and expected resignation come after she admitted on Jan. 31 to a two-year affair with her security detail, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Sgt. Robert Forrest, who has since retired. Both Barry and Forrest are married.
News of the scandal led Nashville’s City Council to create a special committee to determine whether the mayor misused public funds as a result of the affair. Barry is the focus of three ongoing investigations in total, including a criminal inquiry by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation brought on by District Attorney Glenn Funk.
Among the key questions that have been raised since news of the affair include whether Forrest’s six-digit overtime pay spanning the past three years was legitimate, and whether their affair factored into her decision not to support a civilian review board of the force.
The mayor’s office has denied any indication that she misused travel time or taxpayers’ money because of their relationship. However, a report by USA Today Network-Tennessee revealed that Forrest racked up hundreds of hours of overtime by escorting Barry to hot yoga classes and hockey games, late-night concerts and downtown restaurants. The review found, in some instances, there were no events on Barry’s calendar during hours Forrest earned overtime pay.
Barry is scheduled to issue a statement to the media at 10 a.m. CT at the Metro courthouse on Public Square. According to multiple sources, she has begun calling close advisers earlier on Tuesday morning to inform them of her decision.
Barry, a Democrat who was elected in September 2015, is the first Nashville mayor to leave office before the expiration of his or her term in nearly a century.
Her resignation means that Vice Mayor David Briley will be sworn in as mayor.
“I don’t think anybody can be happy today,” Steve Glover, a metro council member and frequent critic of Barry, told The Tennessean. “We’re all human, we’re all callable. Unfortunately this has occurred. I think now it’s important begin to heal. I think it’s extremely important to get behind David Briley.”
This story is developing…
