An Editorial...Group Wants Government Changed

Anti-government forces, beaten in their attempts to oust the government through lawsuits and a Grand Jury investigation, are now serving notice of their intent to circulate a petition to change the city form of government.

Sounds like a foreign news item. But it isn't.

Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls has been served with a copy of an initiative petition calling for a special city election to change the Grove city government to a Strong-Mayor-Council form, from the current Council-Manager form.

Two of the proponents are Benjamin Wall and Thomas R. Melton, both of Grove. The third signature is unreadable. The first step is getting enough signatures on a petition to force an election to approve a change in the city's form of government.

The petitioners would then call for a special election to elect a Mayor and the city manager would be ousted. This system of government is normally used in large cities where councils typically number 12-18 people instead of five, as in Grove. Under this system the Mayor appoints department heads and other officials, has the veto power over city ordinances and frequently prepares the city budget. Council duties are not as important as in the council-manager form of government.

All of this would take about 4-5 months. The next council election is 10 months away, when three seats will be up for grabs.

Under Grove's current form of government, Manager-Council, the council makes the city ordinances and sets policy but hires a paid administrator, a city manager, to carry out its decisions. Council activities, however, have been limited by Oklahoma Statutes. The theory behind this form of government is that the increasing complexity of urban problems requires management expertise not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the executive powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager, according to the California Law Center.

Of the top 30 cities in the nation, eight use the council-manager form of government, the rest use the Mayor-Council type. These cities have populations of a half-million citizens and up, with large budgets. Small towns typically use the manager-council form which provides for greater checks and balances as the council plays a greater role in government.

It boils down to whether you trust the council to hire the right person as manager, or you trust the people to elect the right Mayor, even one who has no experience in running a city.

Wall Hired by D.A.'s Office, Firing Reasons Given

District Attorney Eddie Wyant said Monday morning that former Grove Police Chief Mark Wall had been hired as an investigator in the D.A.'s office to assist with child abuse and sexual crimes cases for Delaware County. But as of Monday morning, officials at Grove City Hall had not received a resignation notice from Wall or his attorney.

On Friday, Wall was demoted from police chief on administrative leave, to patrolman, and City Manager Bill Galletly issued a press release late Sunday evening citing reasons for Wall's demotion.

In the Fall of 2003 the Grove Fraternal Order of Police asked for a donation from a Grove businessman to purchase AR-15 assault rifles worth about $600 each for 19 officers in the department, as gifts, or a total of $11,400.

Ed Townsend, CEO of the Bank of Grove, said Monday that "the transaction was to the FOP for the benefit of its members, no strings attached, strictly a private donation to a 501 (3) C non-profit corporation which became their private property for their benefit.
The property never belonged to the city," he said.

Galletly said the issue was a possible violation of the oath of office taken by Walls, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Code of Conduct states that "officers will refuse to accept any gifts, presents,…"

Since the weapons were furnished, some of them have disappeared, been stolen, taken home and kept there, some by officers no longer on the force, Galletly said. "Since there is no policy in place requiring these weapons to be kept in the department's arsenal, our ability to respond to a serious situation is greatly diminished," Galletly said. "The availability of these weapons relies entirely on the desire of each officer to bring, or not bring, his weapon to work each and every day. When officers are sick, out on comp time, or on vacation, their weapons are not available.

Normal police policy for such weapons is to keep them in a locked cabinet in the Police Department with a checkout log as to who is using them and for what purpose, officials said. Galletly said Wall failed to bring the weapons to the attention "of management" and should have developed a policy for the weapons and their use, but "having them listed as a personal item removes the department from having any control over their availability and use."

Galletly also cited the chief's failure to develop procedures for patrols, school zones, pedestrian crossings, traffic monitoring and other operational matters, which he had requested, and Wall's providing "unauthorized assistance to the grand jury" which Galletly said "is viewed as dereliction of duty, extremely poor judgment, or at worst, outright insubordination."

Ivan Devitt, Jr., acting police chief, said Monday he was serving only as interim chief "until all of the matters are cleared up." He said Wall's office at headquarters had not yet been cleaned out but that he understood Wall would be in Tuesday to collect his personal items.

Devitt spent 20 years on the Houston Police force and retired in 2004. He served on special response groups, instructor at the Academy, mounted patrol on horses and bicycles, and swat containment work. He said "we have a good group of police professionals here in Grove and they have done a tremendous job over the past two weeks."

Wall was originally fired as Police Chief on May 19, then put back on administrative leave. He was offered a job in the District Attorney's office the same day but turned it down.

A letter from Wall's attorney was faxed Friday to KGVE Radio in Grove and read on air numerous times, blasting the city for Wall's original firing and demotion, sources said. Calls to Chris Ramsey, Wall's attorney, were not returned as of today's blog posting.

At Tuesday's regular City Council meeting, councilors will vote whether or not to go into Executive Session "for the purpose of discussion regarding the employment, hiring, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of the City Manager and City Treasurer as authorized by 25 O.S. Section 307 B (1)."

One source said that the executive session would take place, but Galletly would not be fired at this time "because there are too many vital projects underway at this time in Grove and Galletly has the knowledge and experience to keep them on track and finish them."

Per state statute 11-10-107, there are limits on council authority to act through the city manager. "The council and its members may not direct or request the city manager or other authority to appoint or remove officers or employees; participate in any manner in the appointment or removal of officers and employees of the city, except as provided by law, or give orders on ordinary administrative matters to any subordinate of the city manager, either publicly or privately."