COHUTTA, Ga. (AP) — A town council in a small north Georgia mountain community passed an ordinance Friday reinstating their police department and restoring the jobs of their police officers two days after the mayor fired them all.
A standing room-only crowd of townspeople, news media and the police officers attended the special meeting of the Cohutta Town Council, council member and Vice Mayor Shane Kornberg told The Associated Press afterward.
The
officers were reinstated immediately and will receive back pay, Kornberg said.
A sign posted earlier this week in the town of about 930 people announced that the police department had been dissolved “per Mayor Ron Shinnick.” It told people who need help to call a nonemergency county number.
The jobs of the chief and about 10 officers were terminated as of Wednesday morning. Exact reasons haven’t been shared publicly.
Shinnick said he took action because of some comments officers posted on social media. The now-former Sgt. Jeremy May said it involved a complaint that he and other officers had raised about the mayor's wife, Pam Shinnick, who had served as the town clerk.
“This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor, and I wholeheartedly believe that,” May told WRCB-TV. “We took a stand for transparency, and in result, every one of them has lost their jobs.”
The now-former Cohutta Police Chief Greg Fowler told WRCB that he couldn't comment in detail as the officers were clearing out the police department and removing equipment from the building this week. The mayor told the station he's not sure what will happen next.
Phone calls and emails left Friday for the mayor were not immediately returned.
Kornberg said the town's attorney, Bryan Rayburn, told the council the officers' firings hadn't followed the town charter, which requires 30 days' notice be given before employees can be suspended or removed.
The council went into executive session to discuss matters of litigation. When they emerged, the mayor voluntarily didn't return to the meeting, Kornberg said.
Kornberg, as vice mayor, took over the meeting. The council then passed the ordinance reinstating the officers and another measure preventing the mayor from firing the officers for the next 30 days.
The council then voted to table “for the foreseeable future” the rest of the meeting's agenda, which involved removing Shinnick.
When no Cohutta officers were working, the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office had said deputies would help the townspeople if needed. Cohutta, just south of the Tennessee line, is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.
Multiple townspeople said Friday evening they were attempting to livestream the meeting on social media, but weak cell service in the area did not allow them to do so.
