Chaffee council expands police board's powers

The Chaffee City Council has instituted expanded powers for its police personnel board, although city and police board officials won't comment on why the changes came about and little discussion of the new rules can be found in the city council's minutes from open session.

Last week the council voted 8 to 0 to give the city's police personnel board -- a body that oversees police department personnel and has the power to take disciplinary action and make hiring and firing recommendations to the city council -- expanded powers to "establish policies and procedures for the operation of the department," according to City Attorney David Summers.

A comparison between the old police board regulations and those passed Monday shows key additions -- the new regulations give the board the power to "promulgate rules and regulations regarding the behavior and duties of the personnel of the Police Department," the power to take disciplinary action against members of the police force and the power to establish a training program for personnel or require them to take part in training.

Initially the ordinance voted on last Monday contained language that would allow the board to fire members of the police department, but the council deleted the language to retain that power for itself.

Summers said he didn't recall exactly how the idea to change the board's powers came about. Chaffee City Clerk Diane Eftink examined minutes of the council's June 18 and July 2 meetings and the only reference she found to the ordinance in open session was that Councilman Jack Nordin moved to table discussion on the ordinance at the July 2 meeting until the most recent meeting, at which the ordinance was unanimously passed. At the same meeting, the council accepted the resignation of Police Chief Martin Keys, who cited only "personal reasons" for his leaving and expressed a desire to continue working at the department in another capacity.

Two police board members -- Mert Mirly and Jim Stubbs -- declined to talk about the reasons for change in police board powers. Mirly said he didn't want to say how the change came about, while Stubbs said he wasn't sure about the reason.

Mirly said the new powers won't change the board's operation much, but will re-establish powers the board once held.

Police boards are a common feature in small towns in northern Scott County -- both Oran and Scott City have boards that advise the city councils about police personnel matters. In Scott City, like in Chaffee, the board has the ability to issue examinations and promote police department personnel, as well.

Neither Cape Girardeau nor Jackson have such boards, instead handling those duties internally among city government employees like police chiefs and city administrators.

In recent weeks Chaffee's police board has come under fire from a few residents, who allege the board has been operating in secret.

One of them is Jack Dragoni, who said he called the Missouri Attorney General's office complaining about the board's practice of not posting notice of its meetings or its agendas and not keeping its minutes available for public use.

"No one's had any interaction with them," Dragoni said. "No one knows when they meet, where they meet, or what they do when they meet."

Dragoni said he was told that in 12 years the board has never posted advance notice of its meetings.

At last week's council meeting, Mayor Loretta Mohorc promised changes when confronted by another Chaffee man, saying from now on the board will post notice of its meetings and maintain minutes of open session discussion and action.

Dragoni is hopeful Mohorc is right.

"I'm hoping we're going to see a more open city government," Dragoni said.

The Southeast Missourian was unable to reach Mohorc for comment Friday and calls to two city council members were not returned.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182