04.18.1986 Town Council MinutesEmergency meeting
Friday, April 18, 1986
10:00 AM City Hall
Call to Order: The Mayor called the meeting to order pursuant
to the notice which was posted on the door of City hall and
read the notice including the reference to the meeting being
called for emergency purposes.
Personnel: The Mayor, at this time, turned to the audience and
explained that personnel was the only item on the agenda and
the subject of the session was Jay Marcom, Police chief. Mayor
Cockrell then asked each Council member if they had any comments
on the performance of Mr. marcom with regard to his duties as
Chief of Police. In addition, the Mayor noted that he had copies
of offense reports from the sheriff's Office dated April 9 and
April 15, 1986, both of which indicated that many attempts had
been made to contact Chief Marcom unseccessfully resulting in
delays in response to emergency calls and that she was not aware
of how he could be contacted.
Mr. Bell objected to consideration of the agenda based on
the vagueness of the subject matter, but did not propose any
official action.
The Mayor noted that Mr. marcom was not present but that he
had been advised on Thursday that the meeting had been called
and that unsuccessful attempts to contact him by radio had been
made that sane day.
Chief marcom arrived at 10:12 AM and the Mayor requested
his response to the offense reports, particularly the report
concerning the disturbance at the Eagles Nest on Saturday
evening. The report specifically stated that in response to
an inquiry by the sheriff's Department, Mrs. Marcom said she
did not know where he was and that he could not be reached by
radio. Mr. Marcom advised that he had not seen the reports and
could not recall where he was on Saturday night at 5:00 PM
and admitted he was aware of the buglary report dated Wednesday.
Mr. Broyles noted that he had information that a county officer had
been held up for an hour because of the inability to contact the
Chief.
The Mayor stated that in addition to the two (2) offense
reports which had been provided by the county, there were numerous
citizen reports that there had been no attempt to investigate
beyond the few days prior to the meeting. He also questioned the
existance of two (2) driver's liscense on the Chief's desk which
had been there for quite some time and ask why the Chief had
missed Court on wednesday, April 16, 1986. Chief marcom responded
that he had not been made aware of any Court settings and indicated
he had been in the District Attorney's Office the entire day.
He stated that the driver's liscense on his desk had been given to
him by the DPS officer at the scene of the wreck but gave no
explanation as to why they had not been returned to the State
or the individual.
With regard to missing Court, the Mayor noted that all cases
for Court had been dismissed by the judge and Mr. Broyles indicated
he was aware of another court date he missed and all cases were
dismissed. Mr. marcom stated that the County had the responsibility
to notify the Judge that he was absent from the County on that
date but Mayor Cockrell indicated that that had not been done.
After some further discussion, Mr. Smothermon moved that
the Chief of police be terminated for non performance of his
duties in such office, seconded by John Christie. The vote
went as follows: Mr Broyles, aye, Mr. Smothermon, aye,
Mr. Stansell, aye, Mr. Christie, aye, Mr. Bell, nay. The
Mayor declared the motion carried by vote of four to one.
He then requested to mr. Marcom to surrender to the City
his badge and I.D. card and return to the City a;; City property
in his possession. Mr. Marcom indicated that he would do so
and Mr. Broyles reminded him as he was leaving the room to leave
his badge and I.D. card before he left the building.
Adjourn: Jim Broyles made a motion to adjourn. John Christie
seconded the motion. Motion carried.
MA"YOR
CITY SECRETARY