Harrisburg City Council has withdrawn its motion to hold Mayor Wanda Williams in contempt of court, ending a legal standoff that had threatened the mayor with daily fines and possible arrest.
According to ABC27, the council filed to withdraw the motion on Wednesday (March 11), one day after voting 4-3 to formally approve Gloria Martin-Roberts as director of the Building and Housing Development Department. The withdrawal still awaits a judge's signature.
Martin-Roberts had served as the department's interim director for nearly 21 months without council approval — a move the council argued violated a February agreement between the mayor and the council. That deal, reached on Tuesday (February 11), required Williams to stop appointing interim department heads without the council's advice and consent.
As reported by PennLive, the council had asked Dauphin County Judge Jeffrey Engle to fine Williams $1,000 per day for non-compliance, and to jail her if she had not complied within 30 days. But on Tuesday (March 10) — the same day the judge scheduled an evidentiary hearing and ordered Williams to respond to the council's charges — the mayor submitted a resolution to the council for Martin-Roberts' approval.
Council members Crystal Davis, Ausha Green, Robert Lawson, and Ralph Rodriguez voted in favor of the appointment. Council President Danielle Hill and council members Lamont Jones and Jocelyn Rawles voted no.
Hill was blunt in her opposition before the vote. "I will be voting no on this resolution simply because it is a violation of the law," she said. "I just don't understand and nobody can answer my question as to why it took a motion for contempt for Ms. Gloria Martin-Roberts to come before council for a vote."
In its court filing Wednesday, the council did not hold back either. "While it is regrettable that it took a Motion for Contempt for the highest elected official in the City of Harrisburg to obey the law, including a Stipulation that she signed just three weeks earlier and memorialized in a Court Order, the Motion showed that no one is above the law, not even Mayor Williams," the council's attorneys wrote.
Williams, for her part, praised the approval of Martin-Roberts. "Despite the political tensions that sometimes arise in government, my administration remained focused on resolving this matter through the legislative process," she said in a statement.
The dispute stems from a broader, months-long battle over the city's 2026 budget. The council had previously filed a civil suit against Williams on Friday (March 6), accusing her of violating the February agreement. That agreement itself was struck to settle an earlier lawsuit Williams filed over the defunding of some of her staff.
As part of Tuesday's action, the council also codified new rules for acting department heads, stipulating that anyone serving in an acting capacity beyond 120 days will no longer receive pay. Both the mayor and the council will work together to fill any vacancy that extends beyond that limit.
A Dauphin County judge has not yet signed off on the withdrawal of the contempt motion.