In the wake of recent events involving turmoil with the Moorhead Police Department, one officer has been terminated while the fate of several others are still hanging in limbo.
Moorhead City Manager Percel Moore confirmed that officer Patrick Mitchell was no longer employed by the city.
And although an entry was place on the agenda to discuss the other officers, which include Chief Bobby Walker, Assistant Chief Sherry Myers and officers Mel Cannon and Demarcus Peoples, it was removed and no action was taken after Mayor George Holland announced that he had spoken with the council's labor attorney, Preston “Bo” Rideout.
Holland said Rideout had also spoken with Eric Hawkins, the attorney for Walker and the other officers and they were scheduled to meet on Tuesday.
Mayor Holland said on Wednesday morning that meeting did not take place and the officers were still on suspension.
After emerging from an executive session on Monday, the Council was requested to and voted unanimously to authorize the mayor and city manager to sign a bill of exception reportedly at the request of Rideout. Afterwards, Holland said Rideout explained that the bill of exception is a "record of appeal," but he (Holland) could not offer any further explanation.
MS Code 11-51-75 describes it as an appeal to circuit court from decisions of a local governing authority. It states that any person aggrieved by a judgment or decision of the board of supervisors, or municipal authorities of a city, town, or village, may appeal within 10 days from the date of adjournment at which session the board of supervisors or municipal authorities rendered such judgment or decision, and may embody the facts, judgment and decision in a bill of exceptions which shall be signed by the person acting as president of the board of supervisors or of the municipal authorities.
During the regular session on Monday, citizen Sally Chambers asked the council if the officers listed on the agenda had been officially fired.
“I don't think that would be for us to say tonight. I am supposed to meet with the attorneys tomorrow," Holland said.
Chambers then asked if the citizens that were allegedly violated by the officers would receive any type of restitution.
"These fines and these charges, they put a hardship on the citizens of Moorhead. So now, is there anything we can do to overturn some of these bogus decisions, it's not fair," she said.
Moore responded that not much could be done at this point,
“However, in court today, all of the cases that were done in December, all of the cases were dismissed,” he said.
Moore also told Chambers that they have been asking citizens to come forth. Many of them made verbal complaints but never wanted to put anything in writing, he said.
“And disciplinary action can't take place until we get documentation.”
Moore said a few had, which is why they were able to proceed with some disciplinary action on certain officers.
“The city apologizes and we're doing all we can right now to correct it. It's being handled,” said Moore.
After Councilman Derrell Wright asked about getting a legal opinion, Moore advised the citizens to contact the Attorney General's office.
Chambers then mentioned a recent newspaper article where District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald raised the question of having the city reimburse the county for expenses for sheriff's deputies.
“He is probably speaking a little prematurely because it's the sheriff department's responsibility to protect the municipalities. He's speaking that he don't really know. He needs to go and research,” Moore told Chambers.
Chambers then asked about future efforts to hire new police officers.
“Will you take some better steps to get people that are a lot less crazy?
Moore assured her that the city does reference checks, but also asserted that they go off of the submitted application and references.
“But it's going to be totally different, trust me. We're going to step outside the line,” Moore said.
Chambers further stressed, “We have some really serious things going on and we can't repeat that mistake,” she said.
Moore said, “We agreeIt was being discussed since August some of the things that took place, and I hate that it took five months to try and rectify the problems. Collectively we're going to do everything possible,” he said.
Chambers also asked about the outstanding fines and whether or not they should be paid. Moore and the Council expressed that all fines still need to be paid.
In other business,
Moore told the Council that the door locks to the police chief's office and the evidence room had been rekeyed as of Friday. A citizen in the audience asked if it was legal to do that and Moore said they had a legal right anytime an employee was terminated.
