LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A lawsuit has been filed after the suspension of District 4 Councilwoman Judith Fike over her alleged social media posts that were racially charged and contained “hateful” content.

Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who represents Fike, filed the lawsuit against the city of Groveland on Tuesday.

The filing stated the city’s charter does not allow for suspension or removal of any city councilmember by the council itself for any reason.

“No city gets rid of their own members,” Sabatini said. “They don’t even have the power to do that. Very few cities have a charter that allows for that and Groveland is literally just making up the law, so it disgusts me that they are so blatantly violating the law.”

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During a council meeting on Monday, Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines accused Fike of writing “racist” content on social media and brought out an example of one such post that apparently displayed an image of former President Ronald Reagan “babysitting” former President Barack Obama.

“Except that it is an ape, a baboon, a monkey, or whatever you want to call it,” she said.

Gaines also discussed other supposed posts, including ones where Fike allegedly targeted Obama with explicit language and claimed that he had received the Democratic nomination due to his race.

Fike argued during the meeting that some of the controversial posts — which had been brought forth by an anonymous source — had been “copied-and-pasted” with “words inserted.”

“And so now that Barbara has shown them, those are indeed manipulated, and so I will just let that rest,” she said. “They’re not my words. Some are — there are some copies. But what Barbara just showed were absolutely not products of mine.”

Despite the protestations, the city council ultimately voted to suspend Fike pending an investigation and due process meeting, where the potential for her removal will be discussed.

Sabatini said Fike’s suspension isn’t valid and that she plans to attend the city’s next council meeting.

“What Groveland is doing is completely and totally unlawful,” Sabatini said. “What’s worse is it’s a completely bad look for the city and for the county as a whole.”