The process of selecting a new chief of police for the city of Eupora was debated during last week's Board of Aldermen meeting.
Police Chief Gregg Hunter resigned effective Sept. 30 upon his retirement. Minutes of a special-called meeting on Sept. 14 note his resignation but the board did not specifically vote to accept it.
Aldermen did vote that night to advertise for the position and appointed Sgt. Lawrence "Q-Dell" Caradine as interim police chief effective Oct. 1. He was second in command at the Eupora Police Department, having served as an officer since 2009.
Police Department matters were also discussed during another special-called meeting Sept. 14. Minutes show no board action was taken after discussion of "Interim Police Chief Compensation." The board then voted to table the item "Police Chief Job Description" until a new police chief is hired.
Records also show police officers Tanner Pritchard and David Fonseca had resigned effective Sept. 30. The board voted to advertise for the available full-time positions for two weeks and applications will be accepted until noon Friday.
The police chief advertisement ran Sept. 22 and 29, with applications accepted until noon Oct. 1 at City Hall. Nothing was on the agenda of the board's Oct. 4 meeting about the vacancy. However, the board did vote to amend the agenda to include the item "Police Chief Search" at the request of Billy Tabb (Ward 2).
When the board reached that agenda item, Tabb said, "I personally feel like we kind of rushed the application process."
Tabb said he thought it would be a wise decision to extend the application process until Dec. 3, give Caradine a 5% raise because of his added responsibilities and not hire a police chief until the first meeting in January.
Robert Gibbs (Ward 4) and Junior Shaw (Ward 1) said they did not think hiring a new police chief from outside the area should be considered as had been suggested by Janet Cook during an economic development presentation earlier in the meeting. They said having a chief who doesn't know the area could cause problems.
"These officers know the people," Shaw said.
Caradine's sister, Mildred Pittman, was in the audience and said he should be hired because he knows the neighborhoods and the school system, and because of his long tenure with the EPD. She also asked why the city took applications when previous police chiefs have been appointed without doing so. Mayor Blake McMullan responded that his stance was that the city owed it to the citizens to get the best candidate.
Caradine also addressed the board, stating it could have already appointed a chief to take over.
"The more we wait, it's still not going to help the people," he said.
Referring to the two aforementioned vacancies, Caradine said the remaining officers are having to work extra shifts and that it is difficult to hire people with an interim chief.
"They're (potential officers) waiting on the board," he said. "We need to go forward with this (because) I'm not really the chief chief."
After further discussion, the board voted to enter into executive session for the purpose of personnel, with Caradine remaining in the boardroom. Before going into closed session, Tabb said he wanted to go on record that neither he nor any other member of the board had recommended hiring someone from out of town for police chief.
According to City Clerk Gail Newton, two motions were made after the board came back into open session. The first was one by Tabb to extend the application deadline for police chief until Dec. 3, keep Caradine as interim chief with a 5% raise and hire a new chief in January. Ricky Newton (Ward 3) seconded his motion.
Tabb and Newton then voted aye, and Shaw and Gibbs voted nay. Because Jerry Gary (at-large) was on vacation and unable to attend the meeting, McMullan had to break the tie. He voted nay and the motion failed.
The city clerk said Gibbs then made a motion, seconded by Shaw, to call a special meeting of all aldermen to interview the three local candidates this week. The motion also called for board members to consult with EPD officers to determine their opinions. That motion passed 4-0.
No special meeting had been called as of Monday.
