It Took the Ethics Commission: Questions Grow Over Mayor Marks’ Long-Term Storage of Personal Vehicles on City Property

Well over a year ago, multiple City employees contacted The Limestone Lowdown with concerns about personal vehicles belonging to Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks being stored long-term on City property.

The question was simple:

Would an ordinary Athens citizen have been allowed to do the same thing?

This was never about leaving a vehicle overnight. One vehicle displayed a 2016 tag, had flat tires and a deteriorated top, and appeared to have been sitting there for an extended period.

The Mayor Was Directly Notified

On June 16, 2025, a citizen emailed Marks directly with the subject line “Ragged Cars on City Property.”

The email said the vehicles had been sitting there “for years now” and questioned why private vehicles were being stored on City property.

Marks responded:

“Thanks for your note.”

That exchange establishes that the Mayor had been directly notified of the concern by June 2025. Yet the vehicles remained.

Then the Ethics Commission Got Involved

Marks told The News Courier that one vehicle was there because he hoped a nearby mechanic would eventually repair it.

According to Marks, the issue was raised again during a January 2026 City Council meeting. He sold one vehicle in February.

Then, in April 2026, an Alabama Ethics Commission investigator contacted Marks regarding two vehicles he had left on the City-owned lot. Marks said he removed the remaining Mazda Miata that month.

On August 5, 2026, according to The News Courier, the Ethics Commission notified Marks that it had preliminarily determined he committed “one or more minor violation(s) of the Alabama Ethics Act.”

Marks has requested an administrative resolution.

To be clear, this is a preliminary Ethics Commission finding, not a criminal conviction.

But “minor” doesn't mean nothing happened.

What Does “Minor” Mean?

There is a recent North Alabama example.

In 2024, the Alabama Ethics Commission determined that Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling committed a minor Ethics Act violation involving his use of the city-owned Aquadome Recreation Center for a private pickleball game while it was closed to the public.

WAFF reported that the Commission unanimously referred that matter to the District Attorney and that Bowling could face a fine.

The circumstances are different, but the example is important: a “minor violation” is still an Ethics Act violation and can carry consequences.

The City's Own Parking Policy

There is another wrinkle.

In a 2017 City of Athens notice titled “Downtown Parking Changes,” the City announced:

“Prohibit overnight parking in city parking lots and on-street spaces. Violators will be towed.”

The notice was signed by Mayor Ronnie Marks and then-Police Chief Floyd Johnson.

A later 2019 Downtown Parking Map adopted by City Council resolution also identified 212 spaces in City-owned or leased public parking lots as “No Overnight Parking.”

To be fair, The Limestone Lowdown has not established that each individual space where Marks’ vehicles sat was separately marked with a “No Overnight Parking” sign.

However, additional City records provide important context. In 2017, the City of Athens announced a downtown parking change that prohibited overnight parking in city parking lots and on-street spaces. Then, the City’s 2019 downtown parking map identifies the area where Marks’ vehicles were parked as part of the downtown public parking area covered by those parking regulations.

Taken together, the 2017 parking change and the City’s own 2019 map make clear that the location where these vehicles were parked was within the downtown area subject to the City’s no-overnight-parking policy.

In other words, the question is no longer simply whether a particular parking space had an individual sign directly beside it. The City had already publicly announced the prohibition on overnight parking in city parking lots and on-street spaces, and its subsequent downtown parking map places the location where Marks’ vehicles sat within that regulated parking area.

Look at the Timeline

March 2017: Marks signed to prohibit overnight parking in city park lots and on-street spaces. Violators will be towed.

June 2025: Marks is directly notified about the vehicles.

January 2026: The issue is raised at a City Council meeting.

February 2026: Marks says one vehicle is sold.

April 2026: An Ethics Commission investigator contacts Marks about two vehicles on the City-owned lot.

April 2026: The remaining Miata is removed.

August 2026: The Ethics Commission issues its preliminary finding of one or more minor Ethics Act violations.

That's a lot of opportunities to address something that ultimately shouldn't have required intervention from Montgomery.

Where Was the City Council?

These vehicles weren't hidden. They were sitting on City property across from City Hall.

Council members came to meetings. Employees worked nearby. City leadership had every opportunity to see them.

Why didn't someone simply say:

“This is City property. You need to move your personal vehicles.”

That shouldn't require an ethics complaint.

It should require leadership.

One Standard for Everyone

Mayor Marks has apologized if anyone was offended.

But this isn't about being offended.

It's about standards.

If an ordinary Athens resident left an old personal vehicle with expired tags and flat tires on City property for an extended period, would the City allow it?

That's the question.

The vehicles are gone now. That's good.

But the timeline leaves one question that moving them can't answer:

Why did it take so long?

A citizen complained in writing. The Mayor received it. The issue reached the City Council. Eventually, the Alabama Ethics Commission became involved.

The failure here isn't simply that personal vehicles sat on public property.

It's that an entire system of accountability appears to have sat idle right beside them.