(WYMT) – The Martin City Council met Tuesday night for the first time since a public protest began calling for the resignation of Mayor Sam Howell, during which council members announced the termination of the man leading the charge.
According to council members, Police Chief Michael Cagle was terminated from his position as of Monday, through a letter written and signed by Mayor Howell.
“He is not an officer for the city of Martin at this time,” Councilman James Reynolds said. “He was terminated yesterday by the mayor, but he has not received his termination papers.”
The termination comes weeks after Cagle began a public protest, accusing the mayor of years of mistreatment, mismanagement and alcohol-induced tirades.
“For exposing a corrupt mayor. Which I expected. I said this in previous interviews, they would attack me and terminate me and probably have me evicted from my apartment. And that’s exactly what happened,” Cagle said.
Howell was not in attendance during the meeting because, council members said, he was working. In his absence, Reynolds was tasked with providing Cagle his termination letter. The councilman did not provide justification for the decision and the termination was not met with a council vote.
“The police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor,” said Reynolds. “He makes the decisions on why he hires or terminates the police chief. You will have to ask Mr. Howell.”
Cagle was also absent from the meeting, claiming there was a note on the door earlier in the day informing people the meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quorum. City Clerk Kevin Hall confirmed the note was posted, but said it was quickly removed when they confirmed enough council members would be present to hold the meeting as scheduled.
Community members in attendance questioned Howell’s absence during such a tense time in the city, asking why he was not addressing the concerns himself.
One community member asked why the council would schedule its meetings during the mayor’s work schedule.
“Because you can’t never catch the mayor here,” one community member said.
She said the community is concerned about the number of issues that have arisen and the lack of presence by the mayor.
“If he’s gonna be our mayor… we need him here too,” she said. “He is the last one that is going to make the final decisions of what goes on. And all of this that’s going on with the city, can we keep it out of the papers and out of the news? We don’t need to be on the news all the time. The mayor needs to try to get control of it.”
Reynolds said Howell is on a swing shift, working different times during different week at a state correctional facility. He said they will discuss changing the meetings to allow him to be in attendance in the future.
Community members also discussed the allegations of alcohol-fueled misconduct.
“What the mayor does on his own time… if he takes the notion to drink a little bit, that’s his prerogative,” said Reynolds.
When asked about claims that Howell and other employees altered a police cruiser and used it for a weekend of drinking, Reynolds said the car was altered and used to take four firefighters for re-certification in Elizabethtown, and the mayor was not in attendance.
“Mr. Cagle had it in his mind that those police cars belong to him. They don’t. They belong to the City of Martin,” Reynolds said.
He said the car was altered, based on state statute, as to not present as a police cruiser while being used to cab the men to training.
Billy Reynolds spoke up during the meeting, saying he was one of the men who traveled to the training in the car and “there was no alcohol in the car.” He and Reynolds also claimed Howell did not attend the training because “something came up.”
Fire Chief Benjamin Meade maintains that three of the men who attended the training were not active members of the department at the time of the trip.
“The truth? Two of them were members of the fire department and never showed up for training. Never nothing. One of them is one of our crew members who shows up for everything. The other one, I was told to add,” Meade said.
Meade originally said the department would walk out if Cagle was fired, but he told WYMT he has since talked with the mayor and decided against another mass exodus for the department, as long as things improve in the city.
“We feel it’s better to stand and fight than to shut down the department and hurt the community even more,” Meade said.
Cagle said he is thankful other first responders stood by him and he supports their decision, saying he never wanted the community to suffer for his protest. Though he was fired, he said he is not finished fighting.
“I just encourage the people of Martin to tell the truth. The things that you’ve told me in secret, please do that publicly. Because, unless it’s public and people can hear, it does no good,” Cagle said.
Howell has not responded to WYMT’s requests for comment.