KEMPNER — Two Kempner police officers are out of a job, but the timing is raising questions among city residents.
Kempner City Council announced last week that the officers were being laid off due to budget cuts, but others believe they were let go -- at least in part -- because of a grievance filed last month by the Texas Municipal Police Association against City Mayor Carolyn Crane on behalf of those officers.
The officers are Ofc. Benjamin Ingram and Cpl. Darrell McDonald. The grievance letter alleges McDonald was targeted after his wife spoke out at a City Council meeting. She had concerns the Mayor allegedly did not want to pay for a protective vest for an officer. The grievance states the Mayor asked for an apology from McDonald because she was displeased with the speech, but McDonald refused to do so.
"That is just flat out absurd for any elected official to demand an apology from anybody for something that their spouse said, but more importantly, during an open forum, an open forum city of government, where it is their constitutional right to do so," said John Wilkerson, the West Texas Field Representative for the Texas Municipal Police Association.
Channel 6 obtained the Texas Municipal Police Association's grievance after speaking with the mayor Monday. When we reached back out for comment later in the day, the mayor was no longer in the office to offer remarks on any specific concerns in that grievance. So, we were unable to ask the mayor about the allegation she asked for an apology. We will update this story if she chooses to comment on that specific matter.
"The timing is terrible, but we waited as long as we could before making this drastic decision," Crane said earlier in the day.
Crane said the city's financial issues are partially derived from the fact that construction of a new strip mall has been delayed.
"Because of that, we're not going to see income from that in this fiscal year," Crane said.
Money aside, Police Chief Forrest Spence said he is concerned because there are only two cops left in town.
"Two officers cannot effectively police a town this size," Spence said. "In today's day and age with the violence going on, the elevated use of methamphetamine and heroin, opiates..." Spence said.
On Monday afternoon, the mayor also requested the police chief cut the reserve police officers: unpaid volunteers.
"Policing is being seen, the presence being in your neighborhoods, patrolling your neighborhoods," Spence explained. "We're not in our neighborhoods, the criminal element we've been working so hard to deter this."
See the full grievance letter below.
Grievance Letter by Brandon Gray on Scribd