McCaysville’s full-time police force has been cut almost in half as the city faces being out of money in its general fund within six months.
City council members emerged from behind closed doors Tuesday night, July 14, and voted to eliminate the police department’s investigator position, laying off Billy Brackett. They also voted to lay off Gary Holloway, the department’s field training officer and a tactical team member.
Police Chief Michael Earley said he had already been instructed not to replace Tony Petty who retired July 3.
The combined council actions reduce the department to four full-time officers plus Earley, which results in only one officer on duty per shift. The previous administration had voted to maintain two officers per shift.
The council’s actions did not come without heated concern from Earley, Councilman Larry Collis who recuses himself from voting on all police matters, and members of the public at the council’s regular monthly meeting.
Earley addressed the gathering saying he wanted to ask the council, “Why they lied to me?” He said he was, “told everything was okay by my police commissioner (Sue Beaver) two days ago.”
Councilwoman Gilita Carter, who made the motions to reduce the police force, said, “You knew that it had to go before the council.”
Earley later said the council “didn’t give me the option of having any say so” in the final decision.
In the meeting, Earley went on to defend the work the officers do and its importance to the citizens.
“We work a dangerous job,” Earley said. “By defunding the department, you are taking police from those who need them the most,” such as the young and elderly, who make up a large part of McCaysville’s population. “You are robbing them and you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
The police chief went on to say, “A single responding officer is a recipe for disaster. This compromises the safety of every officer.
Before Carter made the motions to eliminate the two officers, she said the city was, “definitely going to have to cut (expenses) or our city is not going to have the money to go on over the next year.”
Councilman Jason Woody told Earley, “The money is not there, its not been there for a while.” He said the council would reassess the situation in the future.
Carter told Earley, “Your department has reaped the benefit the most over the last two years.”
She had presented charts showing the following police department budgets:
•2016 = $313,110;
•2017 = $327,950;
•2018 = $407,617;
•2019 = $460,220; and,
•2020 = $585,047.
Between 2016 and 2020, these reflected larger increases than any other city department, she said.
Earley later provided charts charts he said reflected the increased demands on the police department since 2014.
Among the figures presented were calls and arrests. By year, Earley’s figures showed:
•2014 = 824 calls, 16 arrests;
•2015 = 903 calls, 15 arrests;
•2016 = 1,278 calls, 21 arrests;
•2017 = 1,563 calls, 32 arrests;
•2018 = 1,660 calls, 57 arrests;
•2019 = 2,490 calls, 65 arrests; and,
•2020 (to date) = 1,066 calls, 26 arrests.
Collis, who serves as mayor pro-tem, said, “I would make the suggestion those that voted for this fiasco forfeit their 911 service.”
To that, Carter responded, “I don’t believe you’re suppose to have the right to say anything about the police.”
Collis responded, “I beg your pardon. I’m a citizen of McCaysville. I have every right.”
When Holloway raised concern over the action, Carter pointed to last year’s pay increases for officers saying, “Who gets 25% raises last year? Nobody gets 25% raises in this world.”
Holloway was quick to remind the council that the pay increases brought McCaysville officers in line with the wages paid by other area departments.
“I’d like to see you go put on a vest and a gun and a badge,” he told Carter. She responded, “I’d be happy to try.”
In her motion to lay off Holloway, Carter had said he was targeted because “he was the last hired.”
However, Earley confirmed the next day that Holloway had been working for the department since 2017. He had been one of the first officers Earley hired after becoming chief, making him one of the senior officers in the department.
Tamberlyn Tanner, speaking from the audience, told the council of the police decision, “You are wrong. You need to go back to the drawing board. We do not need our police department to be cut.”
She said the city wastes too much money, pointing specifically to the $5,000 cost last year to water the trees and plants in the city. That expense had been part of an earlier discussion over this year’s watering plans.
Former Councilman Rodney Patterson said, “this is ridiculous,” asking why hour reductions, such as reducing officers to 35 hours wasn’t considered.
He pointed to the $300,000-plus the city spent on the park and was unable to recover from the state. That represented a lot of jobs that “went out the door due to negligence,” he said.
Besides cutting the two police officers, the council also put Earley on salary at his $23 per-hour rate. This made his annual compensation $51,129. Because of the cut in overtime pay, the chief said that move cost him about $18,000 a year.
The council did not specify an amount they hoped to save by the cuts.
The council is having to cash a $400,000 certificate of deposit that had been held in reserves to go into the general fund this year.
Woody pointed out “a couple of years ago” the city had a million dollars in the bank that included two such CDs, both of which have now been cashed.
Mayor Thomas Seabolt said the CDs have been cashed over the last eight years.
Earley concluded his remarks by saying, “I’ll do the best I can.”