Sheriff Andy Taylor watched over the rural town of Mayberry, North Carolina back when JFK was president and the Beatles were storming America’at least he pretended to.
Sheriff Andy Taylor, after all, was a fictional character and Mayberry, unfortunately, was a fictional town.
But the Sheriff and Aunt Bea’s apple pie conjure good-old-days-down-by-the-oak-tree feelings, and that’s what Clarkston wants for its residents.
It’s nice.
Whether it’s realistic or practical in 2007 Clarkston is another matter, but it’s definitely nice.
The mayor and the city council were elected to do a job, and every one of them takes that job seriously. They want what’s best for Clarkston, and Ernie Combs was not it.
So they fired him.
The Clarkston City Council has a right and a responsibility to decide what’s in city’s best interest, and who they do’and don’t’want heading city departments.
But the council also has a responsibility to follow proper policies and procedures, and the police chief’s dismissal was handled in a manner less than open, less than forthcoming.
There’d been no prior talk at the council table about firing the chief, as was pointed out by attorney Ryan, not ever.
Yet the council sat down Feb. 26 and displayed an air of direction, resolve and unity. They were going to fire the chief.
Where did they find such cohesion where before there was none?
Did Councilman Bill Rausch really say he’d been in contact with council members prior to the meeting?
Public business must be discussed at a public meeting; that’s what the Open Meetings Act is about, and it was put in place so the public knows what governments are doing.
The law is a little hazy, and it certainly doesn’t say council members can’t speak to one another or exchange Emails outside a meeting. But the spirit of the law says, again, public business must be discussed in a public meeting.
Was the Clarkston City Council trying to keep the whole thing quiet, as some members felt accused? Were they trying to hide something?
No, I don’t believe they were.
But neither do I believe it was a coincidence all seven independently arrived at the same thought at the same time without any public discussion: Let’s fire the chief tonight.
It all started last month when Rausch told Combs he could not hire a new cop for the force.
The city council disagreed. They’d appointed Rausch as the police liaison, but Combs, they reminded him, was the department head and entitled to hire as he saw fit.
Convinced the city’s top cop needed formidable supervision and direction, Rausch came to the following council meeting resolved to take charge of the situation’and the police department.
No way, city attorney Thomas Ryan told him. No way, echoed council. Read the charter. The city manager is in charge, not you.
Well, that was it.
Rausch did his homework, called around, covered the bases, and two weeks later asked for Combs? termination. The chief was to have 24 hours? notice.
As someone who’s been observing this community only five short months, I found it difficult to get a firm grip on what, exactly, was happening.
Was Rausch operating solely for reasons he believed were in the best interest of the community, as he said? Did a proverbial straw finally break the council’s back? Was the whole situation turning into a Combs vs. Rausch power struggle?
Rausch began asking Combs to resign shortly after taking his council seat in November (this was a bit curious, as Rausch told The Clarkston News he would join the council with an open mind and no axe to grind).
But Combs refused to quit, and the council and the city attorney refused to let Rausch head the police department.
But something changed when Rausch stepped up a third time, this time to fire the chief.
Not three seconds ticked off the clock before Councilwoman Kristy Ottman supported the motion. Three seconds after that, Mayor Sharron Catallo made the obligatory call for discussion.
The council will say the firing of the chief was a long time coming, and it was. But to the casual observer, the whole thing appeared to come out of nowhere.
And, as they say, appearances are everything.
The residents of Clarkston love and support their community and they pay high taxes to live here. They have a right to know what the governing body is doing, and they have a right to be governed by a council that abides by both the letter and the spirit of the Open Meetings Act.