In a letter dated Nov. 12, Council President Louise Smith and Council Vice President Gary Comegys request Ireton address complaint letters from two councilwomen about Webster and find a way to settle the chief's dispute without spending any money on legal fees.
"There are some pretty serious charges that have been made here, and it just seems very divisive," Smith said. "This is an appeal to the mayor; please do something about this to bring it to resolution."
In the letter, Smith and Comegys reference letters submitted separately by Councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen to Ireton about one week apart in June. In the letters, the duo criticize Webster and request the documents be placed in the chief's personnel file. Ireton has made no official response to the letters publicly, and Smith and Comegys want to know what happened.
Related
Smith Comegys letter re Chief lawsuit.pdf
The other two issues pertain to Webster's lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County on Nov. 3. Webster alleges the city and the mayor denied him a fair hearing for an employee grievance.
Ireton addressed the public in a news conference the following day, calling Webster's lawsuit "frivolous" and his actions "unlawful." Smith and Comegys take issue with Ireton's actions.
"He made some comments that weren't well thought out and he was being adversarial instead of being in a position where he tried to get folks to work together," Comegys said. "This whole situation shouldn't be politicized, and it's being politicized."
Ireton said Friday he had already issued a response to each council member, claiming some matters were "personnel issues" not to be discussed publicly and dismissing other issues as "semantics."
"I'm still going by the rules," Ireton said.
Campbell and Cohen refused to comment. Cohen said she hadn't seen Thursday's letter, and Campbell joined Ireton, refusing to comment and citing the issues as being personnel matters.
"I believe that this again is a personnel matter, and based on that, I question how and why it would be in the hands of the newspaper," Campbell said. "Because of that, I am not in a position to comment further."
Thursday's events are the latest in a string that began with Campbell's alleged illegal receipt of police surveillance evidence when she was employed by Salisbury Neighborhood Housing Service.
Councilwoman Shanie Shields said she'd rather not take sides, though she wants the issue resolved as soon as possible.
"It will be a sad day for Salisbury as a whole if this becomes ugly," she said. "Everybody needs to step back and take a deep breath and learn forgiveness. When you have vindictiveness and personal agendas, that steps in the way of doing what the citizens elected us to do."
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OK, now it's MY TURN!First of all, Jim Ireton is not only the Mayor of the City of Salisbury, he is Chiefy Webster's BOSS.
Now, Ireton didn't sue Chiefy and or the Taxpayers, Webster did. If ANYONE should be apologizing to anyone, if Gary and Louise didn't have their heads so far up their a$$es, they'd come to realize that it should be Webster apologizing and seeking to RESOLVE his issues with Ireton.
Webster has completely disrespected the Mayor's final decision. WEBSTER is the one costing the TAXPAYERS money, NOT Ireton. Where's the correspondences between Chiefy and the Mayor where the Chief has attempted to resolve these issues? Oh, that's right, it's a personnel matter, so Chiefy used his minions, (Louise & Gary) to go public for him because he's not man enough to stand up and fight for himself like a real man.
I'm personally sick of this man causing trouble as well as costing the taxpayers both financially as well as time consumption on the job to handle these cases. Remember Folks, lawyers work 9-5 just like Chiefy does. He can't be handling all of these lawsuits on his own time.
FIGHT CRIME CHIEFY, NOT OPINIONS.
16 comments:
I personally think the only thing Chiefy should be doing, is investigating why a uniformed officer, handed over unscreened evidence to a citizen. If there was ever a crime here, it seems to me it would have been in his own force!
I don't see Comegys and Smith jumping on that issue! They're just smoke screen, diversion, and cover!
I think the whole thing is a damn joke, bunch of children that need a spanking.
Move on Joe. You're acting like a spoiled brat.
Doug, I agree. It is sad, very sad that so many of us feel helpless. Yes, we can console ourselves that there will be an election "down the road" but where can citizens get short-term relief? I don't think they can.
Smith and Comegys are mad because Cohen and Campbell did THEIR jobs and shared people's concerns with the Mayor.
Smith and Comegys are taking the side of a department head who is suing US!
They are breaking their oath of office to US!
If they spent a little more time working for US instead of trying to harm Debbie Campbell, maybe the city wouldn't be in the toilet like it is.
Can't wait to see those sorry excuses for leadership get the boot!
Keep at it, Joe! The truth shall set us free!
why are council members siding with a guy that is sueing the city? how can a guy that is supposed to protect this city sue it? he obviously has no loyalty to the city. he doesn't even live here. he and the two council members need to go. thanks sjd
Earth to Gary and Louise --
Quitcherwhining!
No one cares about your opinion any more.
You both sell out the citizens at the drop of hat.
So, did all of the kids Louise came in contact with during her career in education come away with such a back-stabbing, petty, pretentious attitude? Thanks for cranking out more of you, Louise, like we didn't already have enough problems.
Speaking of problems, would it be possible for Gary and Louise to attempt to solve our gang problems by personally reaching out to the gang members? I know someone who could arrange the initial meeting.
It's a trap to get Ireton to act reactively and without proper safeguards in place, so that he'll be liable and publicly shamed. He's already doing what he can, under charter and law, to deal with the chief. The web woven around the chief's Salisbury career is thick and sticky, and it has to be approached carefully.
Ask Gary and Louise what they would do if they were mayor. I bet they come up short.
Op-ed is right. Whole paper seldom has a fact in it.
Louise "everyone be respectful" Smith is telling the Mayor to "get off the dime"?
Louise Smith thinks she is above having to show people respect.
You reap what you sow, Louise.
The fact that these councilpersons are calling for reconcilliation shows one thing. The Chief's case is weak. Do you think for one minute that these two snakes in the grass would seek concensus if they thought they had a chance to ramrod ( BPT and the slumlords' ) agenda through ( with Shanie's help, of course) ?
I think Ireton should transfer Webster to another job (like in the sewer plant) until the lawsuit is over. From what I've read, it doesn't appear that there would be any negative affect on the SPD.
Why don't G & L just accuse Ireton of Heresy and be done with it. Follow the rules, abide by an oath, in our god o;e' boy city who would think of such?!?
I just pray Ireton sticks with his guns and backs up the citizens of Salisbury.
Keep up the great work Joe.
'scuse me, but since when can not a boss fire an underling, when have they had to have a reason?
You think they could release some evidence dope to a few people on the streets? Heck they released that tape so why not? Sounds like misconduct and against department policy. How about firing the people who do misconduct and criminal offences? Oh wait, they are in the click.
Gary and Louise are as irrelevant to the people they supposedly "serve" as the Chief is.
Gary's pay is a sad waste of taxpayer dollars and he needs to remove those sour grapes from his mouth and get over the fact that Jim kicked his fat behind in the mayoral election.
Louise wouldn't know respect for other people if it smacked her in her big mouth - which is what's going to happen at the polls when she's up for election again.
Shanie's decision to not take sides is understandable. After all, she wouldn't know what side to take on ANY issue if her puppeteers didn't tell her.
Gary and Louise, just do the mature thing - the right thing for your constituents for a change: Climb off your high horses, forget your vendetta against Debbie, and try to do some good for the city during the limited time you have left in office. Shows us all that "old dogs" CAN learn new tricks!
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