Mauldin City Councilman Dale Black has resigned as the city’s mayor pro tem. Mauldin Mayor Terry Merritt made the announcement Monday night during a news conference.Merritt said Black would remain on city council. The Concerned Citizens of Mauldin held a news conference on June 23rd calling for Black’s resignation following a social media post that reportedly compared the Confederate flag to the NAACP, BET, Black Lives Matter, etc. “Councilman Black’s over 23 years of public service for this city has been tarnished by his lack of sensitivity in sharing racially insensitive posts on his personal Facebook account,” said Mauldin Mayor Terry Merritt. “Tonight this city council has heard, discussed, adopted a plan for us. Mr. Black has issued a public apology along with a sincere promise to pursue a path forward and regaining your trust especially with the minority community. Mr. Black has resigned as the City of Mauldin’s Mayor of pro tem. City Council has adopted and I signed a resolution of censor and admonishment for councilman Black,” added Merritt. “These faith leaders heard and acknowledged Mr. Black’s apology and remorse with his lack of sensitivity to our community’s minority citizens. However, as an elected leader the minority community feels they have loss of faith in his ability to lead within our city’s government,” said Merritt.Several members from the Concerned Citizens of Mauldin addressed the city council.”As an elected official and mayor pro tem of the city of maudlin. We maintain our position that his many publicly shared posts that exploit our racial differences and demean our culture heritages are incendiary and deeply offensive to a growing number of Mauldin constituency who make up all ethnicities,” said Pastor Curtis Johnson, with Valley Brook Outreach Baptist Church.”We all acknowledge the fact that every person is entitled to their opinion and we appreciate the freedom of speech. But even that freedom carries consequences and should not be recklessly. As an elected official his words and actions carry weight and his words and images can be considered as reflective of the sentiments of Mauldin, the city council. In height of such racial tensions across the nation and across the world, we all as a community must reject the and repudiate any words and images that project hate and divisiveness or ethnically degrading,” added Johnson.Black’s resignation as mayor pro tem is effective immediately.Merritt also he would be looking into having sensitivity training for all staff members across the city.