The city council in a small north Georgia community called a special meeting Friday evening to discuss reinstating their police department and to consider a request for the mayor’s “immediate resignation.”
Cohutta, Georgia– The city council in a small mountain community in north Georgia called a special meeting Friday evening to discuss reinstating the police department after the mayor fired the chief and all officers.
A notice of the meeting, posted outside Cohutta City Hall, said the council would also consider the mayor’s “immediate resignation” request.
Another sign posted earlier this week in the town of about 930 people announced that the police department had been disbanded “according to Mayor Ron Shinnick.” She told people who need help to call the county’s non-emergency number.
The jobs of the chief and about 10 officers were terminated as of Wednesday morning. The exact reasons have not been shared publicly, and town residents are hoping to get some answers at Friday’s meeting.
Shinnick said he took action because of some comments officers posted on social media. Now former Sgt. Jeremy May said it related to a complaint he and other officers raised about the mayor’s wife, Pam Shinnick, who worked as a city employee.
“All of this is the result of a personal vendetta against the mayor, and I believe that wholeheartedly,” May said. WRCB-TV. “We took a stand for transparency, and as a result, every one of them lost their jobs.”
Former Cohutta Police Chief Greg Fowler told WRCB he could not comment in detail as officers were evacuating the police department and removing equipment from the building this week. The mayor told the station he wasn’t sure what would happen next.
Phone calls and emails left by The Associated Press on Friday for Shinnick and the city attorney were not immediately returned.
With no police officers working, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a brief statement that deputies will assist town residents if they need them. Cohutta, south of the Tennessee line, is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.