THE HANCEVILLE, ALABAMA, CITY COUNCIL has a mess on its hands, thanks to the Mayor, Katie Whitley.
Back on September 14th the mayor had the VFD’s fire chief Mike Watson forcibly removed from the town offices by the police and then suspended him for a list of infractions including improper bid procedures.
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Mayor Whitley
The volunteer FF’s then quit and abandoned the fire department, leaving the city without basic fire protection. Watson claimed that he was following the procedures mandated by the mayor who has refused to disclose her actions to either the city council or the citizens.
Read about this first round of actions in the Cullman Times HERE.
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Former Chief Watson
Shortly after he was suspended Watson was interviewed by Birmingham Channel 6 and the mayor responded. That video is HERE.
The following week Watson was fired from his $33,000 per year job and the City advertised for the position. There were 11 applications and five people were interviewed for the job. On October 8th they filled the position.
The Cullman Times story is HERE.
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Since then the city hired a private investigator to look into the activities of the fire department and Watson and he reported back this week with a summary of 15 allegations against the former chief. Many of them have to do with failing to perform required service checks on equipment and the dubious bidding procedures that Watson claims originated with the mayor.
Read the full list of charges HERE.
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