Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 09-17-1968 Special — reading text

of police action. On two occasions since Mr. Williams became Chief, consti- tuents called stating that they believed the police had me not acted proper~ in giving them traffic tickets. I passed both these complaints to Mr. Williams. I did not follow through on the first of the two complaints and on the second, I was later informed by YJ.T. Williams that thoubh he agreed with the constituent, the City Judge had disag~eed and refused to drop the charges. If Mr. Williams has any knowledge of crimes or misconduct on the part of anyone, I personally challenge him to provide specifics as to dates and times of instances. Williams I recent statement to the press, he stated I In Mr. that he would not compromise his morals or integrity. This being a blanket statement, reflects against the character of each individual councilman. This man, should come forward and give specific information as to the person or persons who approached him, the act or acts which he was asked to commit and the final disposition of the case. 188 Let state that I have a high respect for City Manager me Winston Walker. Nei ther he nor I are perfect and Mr. Walker and I have had our differences on several occasions. If situations should arise which indicate that Mr. Walker is not conducting the position of City Manager in a proper manner, certainly want to know of this and I promise to I vote to take whatever action might be necessary to correct the situation. In the meantime, the only real issue which has arisen is the discharge of James Williams, Jr. as Chief of Police. 1-1r. Walker had the power and, I believe, the duty to qischarge this man and I am in full agreement with him on this. In my' twelve years of service on the Fort Walton Beach City Council, I have tried to base every decision on good business practices and in compliance with the laws and proper moral values. I welcome any discussion or investigation of my actions. V~yor Brown recognized Councilman Rigdon who made the MAYOR following statement: CHAR illS Statement of Charles Rigdon RIGDON Due to the publicity and questions concerning the firing of Mr. Williams, I feel it is my duty, as a City Councilman, to express my views. and opinions concerning this matter, I feel the first six months of Mr. Williams' administration as a Police Chief of Fort Walton Beach was handled in a proper manner. In June of this year, I was called by Mr. Williams asking permission to have meeting with me concerning his problems a wi th the City :Hanager.During this meeting, Mr. Williams stated that it was impossible for him to work for the City Manager. Also during this meeting, Hr. Williams told me of certain events which had taken place in the City operation which were not according to the City' s Charter. ViI'. Williams said that the City Manager had a water- connected system at his motel and was receiving water without charge. Hr. Williams stated that the reason that Mr. Walker was opposed to his running for the office of Sheriff of Okaloosa County was that he and members of Council were too close to the vice operation being carried on! Williams stated that Mr. Hr. Walker was connected with a construction company and that pipe was being purchased for this project through the City and a large sum of money had been divided ~ nong certain members of Council. Mr. Williams stated that he was seek- ing other employment and asked me to try to prevent Mr. Walker from firing him during the interim period in which he waS seeking a new job. I informed Mr. 1,-viliams at that time that, in my position, it is a misdemeanor according to the Charter for me to interfere with the hiring and firing of any employees under the City Manager. However, based statements I would do all I could as a Council- on his man I also further stated that I would to assist him. personally investigate all of these statements that he made to me; and, if there were any truth to them, I would personally expose them to the public. I also asked 11r. Williams if he would agree for me to sit as a referee, trying to solve the differences between him and }~. Walker. He said, at that  189 time, nothing that I or any member of the Council could do would solve the differences between him and Mr. Walker. He stated that, if I could not persuade Mr. Walker to prevent his firing, that he would expose Hr. Walker and 11'. Walker' s name through the mud. drag 1'. Appro:x: irnatelymonth later, Mr. Williams called me and I a visited his office. He related to me that Mr. Walker had 1 forced him, after appro:x: irnately a week of his refusing, to place decals on a city- owned car. During: the course of the conversation, he stated. that he felt it was not right for him, as a Police Chief, to be required to have a marked police car and that this was just one of Mr. Walkerls acts to get back at him. At this time, I told Mr. Williams I felt he should have decals on his Car since this was a City automobile and it was better for him as the Police Chief in making his appearance at social or official duties to be so marked. Also, at this time, Mr. Williams said again that he was seeking other employment and that he was tired and fed up with the operations of the city. Approximate- ly three weeks ago, I had another conversation with Mr. Williams. He informed me that he would be clear of the Cityls operation in approximately two weeks. It has been stated in the News Media that I did not make a statement on Tuesday night, September 10. During the meeting, the Mayor stated if any member present wanted an answer from any man on the platform, the questions and answers would come through the chair. These are the proper rules of order during the course of such a meeting. Not a single question was directed to me. I feel that :t- 1r. Williams is being used by a minority group to seek political power and the only person being hurt during this time is Mr. Williams. All members of Council are employed other than by the City. If they had no associa- tion from this day on With the city, their livlihood and income would not be' jeopardized. But, as a professional Police officer, it would be very hard for Iv1r. Williams to receive the confidence of another employer after statements today. During the Council meeting on September 10, when the large crowd would not sit to hear the results of the meeting, a motion was made by me that the City employees be placed under Civil Service or a non- biased group be appointed to I hear grievances from management and employees. If any citizen of Fort Walton Beach feels like that I am holding other information, I would consider it a privilege for them to personally contact me and I will make my time available to discuss this matter. I further state that, if any employee of the City, from the largest to the smallest, has done any wrong with City funds, or misused equipment, I will personally see that they are exposed. I wholeheartedly welcome any investigation of the dismissal of Hr. Williams 1. Ci 11 0 t.-_- or any charges made by him. Approximately one year ago, the Grand Jury investigated certain operations of the City. One charge in particular aS the way insurance was handled in the City. l.. After this investigation, I made a motion that the insurance committee of the City of Fort Walton Beach make a thorough investigation of the operations of this matter and report back to the Council on their findings. This has been accomplished. Their findings have been publical~ recorded, and no discrepancies were discovered. n~ f~%ddifferent occasions, I have been asked by C~ tizens rega~ding traffic violations they received from the police department. I contacted the Police Chief and related the information to him that these citizens believed they were not being treated right in these matters and asked him to look into the situation and, if there is a problem, to please correct it if he could. I did not follow these violations further and do not know whether or not Mr. Williams took any action on any of these three requests. I finally wish to state that by my advice and action I did everything in my power to try to resolve the differences between the City ~~nager and the Police Chief. Based on my personal knowledge of events and my personal investigation of some of the allegations made I think the