LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The city manager is fired, the city attorney has resigned, and a Las Vegas judge is holding the City of Mesquite in contempt of court. Longtime residents are calling it “total chaos.”

On Tuesday, District Court Judge Nadia Krall ordered the City of Mesquite to be held in contempt of court for wrongful acts, which include a special meeting calling the former Mesquite police chief to appear before the council and address accusations from an internal investigation.

“This total chaos,” Al Litman, former Mesquite mayor and longtime resident, said. “But it was brought upon by the city manager and the city attorney. We were a smooth-running city for a number of years of very little difficulties.”

The former city manager, Edward Owen Dickie, was fired in April by the city council following a leaked recording in which Dickie said racial slurs. The former city attorney, Michael Branum, resigned from his position on May 27, according to a city spokesperson.

“After much thought, I could not in good conscience ask anyone to speak on my behalf,” Branum wrote in an email to city staff sent to 8 News Now. “Without being able to present any evidence in my defense, the angry internet trolls would eventually have convinced four members of Council to terminate my employment.”

Following Branum’s resignation, the city appointed Adam Anderson as the new interim attorney for the City of Mesquite.

A group of Mesquite residents talked to 8 News Now in front of city hall and said they would like to see Anderson fulfill the role as city attorney and see Mesquite Deputy City Manager Martine Green fulfill the role of city manager.

“[As] for the council, there are people that are virtually not there for the best of the community, and that’s what we need,” Nick Alfonsetti, a 20-year Mesquite resident, said.  “We need people that are elected that will represent us as a community here in Mesquite and do the right thing.”

Sue Hanks, a longtime Mesquite resident, said she was worried about how the shakeup in police and city leadership has impacted the overall safety of the city.

“I noticed that our homeless population tripled within 30 days,” she said. “It’s unbelievable how the city just went downhill all of a sudden.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.