Penny Aguirre, former zoning director for the City of Magee, agreed to an interview recently about her termination from that position on December 5, 2025.
Aguirre was only made aware of the decision after receiving a phone call from former Building Inspector Duane Simmons in which he stated that he had just received a call from Mayor Mark Grubbs informing him that he was terminated. In turn Aguirre phoned the mayor and was told that yes, she had been terminated.
During the December 2, 2025 Magee Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting, the board discussed the property located at 727 1st Avenue, SE, owned by Angie Von Seutter and her son Michael, according to the Simpson County Tax Assessor’s rolls. Angie Von Seutter accused Aguirre of damaging her property, stating she had not been served notifications.
The first notice of violations of property regulations was sent on October 3, 2024.
“There were multiple levels of violations. And at first, when we spoke with the property owners or gave notification of the violations to the property owners, it was to both Michael and his mother, because they're both on the Tax Assessor's roll.”
Aguirre stated that piles of trash covered the yard, flammable containers were kept on the porch, and vehicles and trailers were parked all over the property.
Aguirre made her first visit to the residence with Fire Chief David Craft. She said they knocked on the door and Mr. Von Seutter answered; they did not enter the premises. They gave him the notice to clean up his property and then followed up with written notification when Von Seutter took no action.
“So our law says that we have to give personal notification or written notification. You can't expect them to clean up if they haven't been informed. Well, after nothing was being done and in fact, he kept moving more things onto the property, we went back, we visited with him again,” Aguirre said.
Von Seutter then stated that he would simply put up a fence so no one could see the items on his property. “I said, ‘Building a fence will not negate the fact that you have too many structures here; you have trailers in your yard; vehicles everywhere; and piles of stuff. Just building a fence to cover it up will not ease these violations. You need to clean up,’” Aguirre explained.
At this point in-person notifications were made by Craft and Aguirre, continuing to follow through on the process she was given when she began working for the city that required notifying in writing as well as keeping the Board of Aldermen up to date.
Michael Von Seutter had applied for a fence permit on April 3, 2025. When Duane Simmons was hired as the new building inspector, he took over working with Von Seutter regarding the fence.
Aguirre continued, “The aldermen are aware that there's a problem. They've seen it. They've seen pictures. They've heard from the neighbors. They want to know where we are in the case. So I gave them the updates. I have documentation for everything.
“They wanted to consult with the city attorney and they did. And the city attorney (Wesla Sullivan) and the judge (Tracy Seghini) said, ‘This process that you're using won't hold up in court, so you need to adjust.’ I said, ‘I didn't create this process. This is the one the city's always used.’ And they said, ‘Well, be that as it may.’ They both advised that I start over on the case. I did start over on the case; I re-noticed all the property owners.”
On June 21, 2025, Simmons filed charges on Von Seutter for destruction of a city sign, Notice of Cleanup. On September 8, 2025, another notice of violations was sent; a stop work order was posted on the wooden fence along with revocation of the fencing permit.
During court on November 18, 2025, Von Seutter’s attorney, Terrell Stubbs, requested a meeting with Aguirre, his client and Wesley Broadhead, Magee city prosecutor to discuss a 10 day extension for cleanup. The four agreed, but Aguirre admits there was nothing in writing. However, according to public records there are notes stating that a verbal agreement was made between Stubbs, Broadhead and Judge Seghini that a 10-day extension was given.
With no cleaning taking place after the extension, Aguirre scheduled a cleanup of the property in accordance with the agreement. She admits having the fence taken down and having all the extraneous items on Von Seutter’s property in violation hauled away.
Aguirre said she believes she was doing her job, following protocol for clean up that included removing the fence.
“I don't know what they decided about rebuilding his fence, but I'm on the record again saying that rebuilding a fence will not address any of the other code violations or property maintenance or zoning issues. It will not protect the rights of their neighbors. It will not reduce any of the life safety issues that we have brought to his attention.”
At this time Chief Craft is acting as zoning director and building inspector together with his duties at the fire department. During the January 6, 2026 Magee Board of Aldermen meeting, he said that he is pulled in several directions and urged board members to hire zoning and building inspection personnel.
As of Wednesday, January 14, 2026, only a couple of resumes for both positions have been submitted, according to Mayor Grubbs.
