Public commenter accuses Mobile Housing Authority and city staff of failing to remove alleged defamatory material

At the May 5 Mobile City Council meeting, resident Estella Troder used the public comment period to accuse Mobile city officials and the Mobile Housing Authority (MHA) of failing fiduciary duties and failing to remove what she described as a defamatory letter posted in July 2024 by a former executive director.

Troder said multiple attorneys in Alabama had been sanctioned or reprimanded recently for using artificial intelligence to draft court filings that included fabricated or hallucinated legal cases, and she connected that issue to the letter she said targeted her. “That letter was posted July 2024 when an executive director who also serves as the secretary of the housing board publishes a letter containing negative false statements about a resident who sits on the resident advisory board,” she said. Troder urged the housing board to remove the letter and consider a retraction or apology to mitigate legal liability; she said she had previously notified city officials and the housing board and received no corrective action.

The transcript records Troder’s allegations and her request that the city and the housing board act; it does not include a council or staff response on the record. No formal referral, motion or vote related to Troder’s complaint appears in the excerpted transcript.