VARNELL, Ga. — The war of words following the dissolution of the Varnell Police Department, later vetoed, took another turn on Wednesday with former councilwoman Andrea Gordy accusing Police Chief Lyle Grant of following her.

Gordy, who was one of the votes to dissolve the department, filed a complaint with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday after she claimed a Varnell Police Department SUV was following her outside of the Varnell city limits on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

Gordy said after she saw the police vehicle following her out of jurisdiction on Tuesday she sent an email to Mayor Anthony Hulsey and the remaining members of the City Council to make them aware of the situation. She said she was willing to drop it at that point, but said the same SUV was behind her on U.S. Highway 41 between Tunnel Hill and Interstate 75 on Wednesday morning.

“After this morning, I just felt like enough is enough,” Gordy said of her decision to contact the sheriff’s office. “My hopes were that when I emailed Anthony and emailed the rest of the council, surely to God it is going to stop. What is the point anymore? I have resigned. At first, I thought it might be funny and joke about it, but now, why are they doing this, why are they following me? What are they doing and what are they hoping to accomplish?”

When contacted Wednesday, Grant denied he or any of his officers were following Gordy, who resigned from the council after questions were raised about her residency in a lawsuit filed by former Varnell city manager Ralph Morgan and his son Bill, a former City Council member.

“It is just a flat out lie,” Grant said. “I just take it one day at a time and put it in God’s hands and know the truth will come out.”

When asked what that truth is, Grant said, “The truth about any accusations or any of those things.”

Capt. Rick Swiney with the sheriff’s office said the office is looking into the complaint.

“The report will be assigned to one of our investigators, and that investigator will make contact with Miss Gordy and we will see where it goes from there,” Swiney said. “It will be the normal process and it will go from there.”

Gordy and council members Mayor Pro Tem David Owens and Jan Pourquoi have become lightning rods of criticism on social media for some in the community who were opposed to their vote on July 11 to disband the police department. Councilwoman Ashlee Godfrey voted against the proposal, which Hulsey later vetoed.

Gordy, Owens and Pourquoi had proposed putting the question of whether the city would continue to maintain a police force on this November’s ballot and promised to abide by the will of the voters. That ballot proposal was on the agenda for the council’s July 25 meeting but Gordy resigned that day and Godfrey did not attend the council meeting, citing a “family emergency.” Without a quorum, no city business could be conducted and Owens and Pourquoi left while Hulsey remained and heard comments from the crowd of more than 200, many of whom came out to support the police department.

The three council members voted to dissolve the department following the reinstatement of Grant by Hulsey. Grant had been on paid administrative leave following his handling of a domestic call on June 13 at former councilman Sheldon Fowler’s residence during which Fowler called his stepdaughters vulgar names and “poked” officers in the chest with his finger, according to an incident report. In that report, Grant wrote that “officers were tolerant of his behavior because of his position on the Varnell City Council.” Fowler later resigned from the council.

Gordy said even after her resignation, Grant has “attacked” her repeatedly.

On the “Varnell Community” Facebook page, Grant made reference to a post on Gordy’s personal page that alluded to Varnell as a “speed trap” and mentioned to her friends she was anxious for the body cam footage from Fowler’s arrest to be made public.

“I hate to bring her up but she it still tring (sic) to slam everyone in Varnell,” Grant wrote on Facebook. “She wants to bring up how someone else’s video is disturbing, but fails to mention how much more disturbing the video of her arrest is and yes those officers had body cameras on too.”

Grant is referring to a video of Gordy’s arrest in 2016 on a battery charge against her then-husband. Grant then posted booking photos of Gordy from the 2016 arrest and a 2010 arrest in Catoosa County in reply to an apologetic post by Fowler and wrote, “Seems she is a regular to the system” Tuesday morning. He also wrote that body cam footage from the call to Gordy’s house was “much more disturbing than yours” in a reply to Fowler. Neither of those videos have been released as the cases are still in the court system.

In the interview, Grant defended posting the mug shots of Gordy and his comments.

“She just keeps running down myself and the police department and trying to build herself up by lowering everybody else,” Grant said. “You can Google her mug shots, they are a public record.”

When asked why he didn’t release the Fowler body cam footage, Grant said it “doesn’t have any public value.”

“There were a lot of accusations and a lot of cussing, but there was nothing criminal on the body cam,” Grant said.

Fowler was charged with simple assault, simple battery against a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct.

“(On the cam) there is nothing to do with family violence,” Grant said. “I would rather not go into the (accusations). He named a lot of people. A lot of innocent people.”

Gordy said the debate over whether to have a police department has never been a personal attack on the department’s personnel and said when the council members voted to dissolve the department she contacted other agencies to inquire about job openings for the Varnell officers.

“In all of the debates and all of the discussions about the police department, I have never personally attacked any of the police officers or the chief,” Gordy said. “For him to have that personal attack against me, it is unbelievable because my reasoning has always been about financial responsibility. Maybe he has an obsession or a weird mental thing. He doesn’t pick on Jan. He doesn’t pick on David in his posts. it is me. It is a weird personal thing with me.”

“If you post anything in support of eliminating the police department or in defense of myself or David or Jan, they will attack it,” Gordy said. “It is just such a mob mentality and the police force has pushed this mob mentality with their own posts. It is just crazy.”

Gordy, who is a commercial real estate agent, told responding deputies that a marked Varnell Police Department black SUV was following her Tuesday as she was on her way to show a property off of Brookview Drive in the south end of the county. Gordy said when she got to her destination, the vehicle drove “back and forth in front of her rental property several times,” according to the report.

The report said when she made an appearance at the courthouse, the same SUV was parked “by her vehicle.”

Grant said he was at the courthouse Tuesday morning, but Gordy had nothing to do with it and denied following her at anytime.

“Early yesterday morning, I was here at City Hall with two witnesses,” Grant said. “I left around 10:30 to go to (District Attorney) Bert Poston’s office. After that meeting, I left the area and came back to Varnell.”

Poston confirmed the two met in a previously scheduled meeting to discuss the Fowler case, which is in the hands of the DA’s office.