Homer Town Attorney says council no longer disbanding police department
By: Stephanie Claytor
Updated: March 2, 2013
Tensions continue to flair in Homer over the dismantling of its police department.
The council and mayor held a special meeting Saturday afternoon to approve the hiring of additional legal counsel, and to amend the police department's budget.
More than a hundred people attended the meeting and many made public comments varying from the mayor's excessive travel expenses to asking the mayor and city council to resign.
Homer Police Chief Russell Mills is suing the mayor and town council over the disbanding of the police department. In his lawsuit, he said the council violated the open meetings law by not mentioning in the agenda they planned to disband the police department.
Marcus Patillo, the town's attorney, tells NBC 6 the town council did violate the law.
"We are not attempting to disband the police department at this time," said Patillo. "We are going to bring everything back, provide the public with the opportunity to talk, see what's going on, and see the numbers, and once they see the numbers, they'll decide from there.
The police officers are supposed to lose their jobs Mar.4. Patillo said the town council plans to rescind its previous vote to disband the police department. Instead, he said the council along with the mayor will discuss the police department's budgetary issues during the Mar. 4 city council meeting, allow for public comment, and decide from there how to move forward.
