Charleston City Councilman Bernard Slater resigned Monday afternoon, Mayor Danny Jones announced during a city council finance committee meeting Monday.
Slater was a Democrat who represented North Charleston in Ward 1. He was elected in 2014.
Jones said the replacement process will be addressed during the council's next session.
Neither Jones or City Clerk JB Akers mentioned Slater's resignation during the city council meeting.
Slater's resignation comes after dozens of complaints about Slater's behavior and two legal issues in February. Slater had a domestic violence protection order filed against him by his ex-wife extended for a year on Feb. 23.
He also was charged with befouling property on Feb.17 after being accused of digging through people's trash and strewing it around Charleston's West Side. He is scheduled to appear on Tuesday in municipal court for that charge.
Jones called on Slater to resign last month during a city council meeting. During that meeting Jones said, "It's just time to go. It's time to get the hell out."
According to previous Gazette-Mail reports, Slater faced multiple DUI charges before his election in 2014.
He was also investigated by police in 2015 in relation to a fatal drug overdose. Officers said they found text messages from Slater to a man charged with felony murder after a woman had a fatal heroin overdose on Charleston West Side. In those messages, Slater allegedly asked the man, Steven Coleman who is his cousin, to provide him with prescription pills and offered to falsely testify that he witnessed the overdose.
Coleman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and a drug charge.
Jones said during the investigation the city had no plans to remove him from office.
He was arrested for another DUI last March.
The last council meeting Slater attended was on Feb. 6, according to council journals.
Attempts Monday to reach Slater were unsuccessful.
Also during the finance committee meeting, Jones addressed concerns about Charleston's homeless residents.
He referred to the city as a "mecca" for people who have "taken over our streets." Jones said the city needs to provide solutions to handle the city's homeless residents as temperatures rise.
"I'm not looking to displace or cause anybody grief until they cause the city grief," Jones said. "And it's causing us grief, and it's costing us lots of money."
The city dismantled an encampment known as Tent City along the Elk River in January 2016 after complaints from the area's property owner, Waste Management. Council passed a resolution in December that establishes procedures on how to dismantle similar encampments.
The city also removed seven benches from the Lee Street Triangle in September after receiving complaints about some of the homeless people who used them.
Also on Monday, Council voted to:
n Authorize an agreement with Stantec in the amount of $115,314 for engineering services related to bridge inspection and rehabilitation for the South Side Bridge.
n Authorize the mayor or city manager to enter into an agreement with Public Technology Institute in the amount of $91,709 for assessment services addressing improving the city's IT department.
n Authorize the mayor or city manager to receive and administer $40,000 from the WV Division of Justice and Community Service to reimburse partial salaries for the prevention resource officers at Stonewall Jackson Middle School and Capital High School.
n Authorize the mayor or city manager to receive and administer $40,600 from the WV Division of Justice and Community Service to reimburse partial salary for the Charleston Police Department's crime victims advocate and provide travel and training funds.
n Authorize the mayor or city manager to receive and administer $112,000 from WV Division of Justice and Community Service to reimburse partial salaries for four Metro Drug Unit officers from Charleston Police Department, Nitro Police Department, South Charleston Police Department and St. Albans Police Department.
n Authorize the city manager to execute a $820 change order to allow Cincinnati Flooring to stain a border as part of the Kanawha City Community Center's gymnasium floor replacement project. This increased the project's contract price from $76,000 to $76,820.
Reach Ali Schmitz at ali.schmitz@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @SchmitzMedia on Twitter.