Municipal government is usually defined by procedure, paperwork, and painfully slow decision-making.
Not in the small town of Cohutta, Georgia.
In the span of a little over a week, the town went from a workplace mediation involving the mayor’s wife, to the firing of the entire police department, to an emergency public meeting that reinstated every officer almost as quickly as they had been dismissed.
According to WRCB-TV, the issue originally began between local officers and Cohutta Mayor Ron Shinnick’s wife.
Several officers had filed complaints about Shinnick’s wife, Pam, who had previously been relieved from her duties as town clerk for creating a hostile work environment.
The officers alleged that Pam still had access to private town information and other sensitive data.
This would eventually lead to formal mediation resolving the matter, and the town attorney assuring the local police officers that their jobs were not in any sort of danger.
About a week later, by Wednesday morning, Shinnick had dissolved the entire department.
When asked by WDEF-TV about the abrupt nature of the dissolution — and whether he was concerned about the livelihoods of these officers — Shinnick largely waved both concerns off.
“Well, I don’t think it’s that dire at all,” he said. “They’ll get a paycheck. We’re not that way, and I appreciate their service, okay? It is time for a change.”
Shinnick further compared the chaotic ordeal to sports: “It’s a guy thing. You know, occasionally, college football programs, you have to change the coach, and some people like it, some don’t. And that’s just kind of the way it happens sometimes, you know?”
That mayor’s words didn’t land with many of the officers.
Hellbound and Down 