Firing of Meigs police chief challenged

Published 3:47 pm Tuesday, July 26, 2016

MEIGS, Ga. — The public wants to know why Chief of Police Gary Price was fired and if the firing was legal.

The termination of the chief by Mayor Pro Tem Jimmy Layton was questioned at a special called Meigs City Council meeting Monday evening.

Layton wanted to talk about changing the city charter, residents wanted to talk about the city’s top cop.

“If you read through this charter, you’ll find that there is a lot of things that need to be changed in it,” Layton said. While the powers of the mayor have been debated among city leaders, Layton said other issues he would like to address include terms of service for council members and procedures for passing emergency ordinances.

Back and forth discussions among those in attendance throughout the meeting — including comments from former mayor Linda Harris — led council member Stephanie Battle to ask a city police officer to remove people from the audience.

But officer Darrell Laster said, “Ain’t no crime being committed in here. As long as ya’ll keep the peace and don’t touch each other, I’m not going to do anything.”

Residents called for an explanation of the chief’s termination.

The police chief received a termination letter last week from Layton outside of a public meeting.

Battle said Price’s termination did not have to be done in a public meeting and suggested there had been a “majority vote.”

At the regular July 18 city council meeting, there was no public vote for Price’s termination.

The July 18 meeting included an executive session for personnel matters. The called meeting Monday also included a closed session for personnel matters.

There were no public discussions or votes regarding Price’s termination following those closed door meetings.

According to a city spokesperson, there are no notarized affidavits verifying the topics of discussion during the executive sessions.

The Georgia Open Meetings Act requires the person presiding over an executive session to sign a notarized affidavit stating under oath that the subject matter of the closed meeting did not go beyond the legal exceptions to the Act.  

The Open Meetings Act requires that all binding votes take place in an open, public meeting.

Questions regarding Price’s termination went unanswered and no official action was taken.

Council members Lizzie Battle and Dorothy Wimes were absent.