La Cygne Police Chief Fired By Council

Courtesy of Judy Kinder, Linn County News

Following a lengthy executive session on last Wednesday evening, the La Cygne City Council made the unanimous decision to terminate the employment of the city’s police chief.

Although the council had previously held two special meetings regarding personnel issues – one on Oct 28 and the most recent just prior to last Wednesday’s regular meeting – it was unclear if those sessions dealt with Police Chief James Dean’s employment since both meetings had been held in executive session and no actions were taken at the time.

It was only after a 90-minute plus executive session that the motion, made by Council President Terry Weitman and seconded by Councilman Mike VanVlack, for the termination of Chief Dean was approved 5-0.

Chief Dean appeared to be completely unaware that, at the conclusion of the evening, he would no longer serve in the capacity of the city’s leading law enforcement official, only commenting that he did not know what to say.

Dean had served as the city’s police chief since October of 2007.

Following the decision to terminate Dean’s employment, Councilman VanVlack moved to promote part time Police Officer Paul Filla to the police chief position, at an hourly rate of $12. Councilman Jerry Boone seconded and the council approved 5-0.

Filla will be officially sworn in at the Nov. 17 meeting.

Neither the city council nor Mayor Keith Smith would comment on the decision for the termination.

In a phone interview with Dean, he stated that he could not comment on the city’s decision at this time.

He said, “Although I am disappointed with this decision, I know that Paul will do a fine job.”

Dean went on to say he had been asked by the city to assist Chief Filla with the transition.

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Posted by admin on Nov 10 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry