By Emilie Parten, For the NavCo Chronicle
A Special Called Wortham city council meeting was held Monday, August 12th to discuss the upheaval regarding the “retirement” of Police Chief Kelly Butler. The meeting started with a 15-minute open forum of opinions from citizens.
With impassioned speeches, the people of Wortham faced the council with politely worded condemnation but it is unclear if the citizens were there to defend the former police chief or to rally against his reinstatement. During this time, the council listened quietly to the people and gave no response to their retributions, per state regulations.
As soon as the public forum was over, the council made quick work of their agenda.
Three of the council members, Patrick Evans, Michael Busby, and Scott Batts, all opposed the retirement of the former police chief. Mr. Evans also opposed the resignation of Officer Dylan Thompson while the other council members agreed to his release with no fuss at all.
After only 17 minutes in session, the council, all of whom wore exceptional poker faces, went into closed session to discuss the issue of the police chief. There was no indication on which side of the line they were leaning towards. It is almost certain half of Wortham’s population were expecting Chief Butler to be reinstated while the other half were sure of the opposite.
After nearly an hour of deliberation, the council came back into session and voted on the instatement of Sgt. Kelly Craig, the Fire Chief, as interim Police Chief until a new chief is selected.
The council then tabled all other matters and quickly called the session to an end. The reconvened meeting only lasted a total of 3 minutes, and the council was quick to disperse afterwards.
When asked if this was the outcome, they had hoped for regarding the former Police Chief, one citizen replied, “I’m happy that he is happy.” For now, at least, it appears that the reinstatement of Chief Butler is off the table.
**Publisher’s Note: After many attempts, the NavCo Chronicle did not receive a response from former Chief Butler.
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