It’s been a rough few months for Hampton, Fla., a town of 477 that made a name for itself as America’s worst speed trap and more recently as one of the most mismanaged towns in the country. On Tuesday, its mayor – who had been suspended by the governor and was in jail on charges he sold oxycodone to an undercover informant – resigned.
“I, Barry Layne Moore, being of sound mind and body, ask that you would please accept this letter as notification that I am leaving my position with the city of Hampton, effective immediately,” he wrote from jail.
Moore was arrested in November, just a month into his tenure, and suspended from his position as mayor by Gov. Rick Scott. Several months later, a state audit showed that Hampton violated two dozen city, state and federal laws and codes by keeping careless financial records, overpaying city employees and spending money without demonstrating public purposes, prompting Florida legislators to call for dissolving the town completely, selling its public assets and turning it into an unincorporated region within the county.
According to the Florida Times-Union, the town has until the end of the month to demonstrate that it has put its books in order or legislation will proceed to abolish it.
