Hawkins Mayor Deb Rushing speaks to Place 4 Alderwoman Clara Kay during a Hawkins City Council meeting Monday. (Jordan Green/Longview News-Journal Photo)

HAWKINS — A Hawkins City Council member said she expects three former city police officers to sue the city for wrongful termination, though the town’s mayor said the officers weren’t city employees to begin with.

Hawkins Place 2 Alderwoman Eleta Taylor said Tuesday that she believes now-former officers David Morris and Vernon Polk and former detective Dale Lundberg will sue the city for wrongful termination because Mayor Deb Rushing on Monday blocked a vote to appeal their terminations, which effectively occurred Feb. 18.

“What it’s going to cause is lawsuits that are going to cost the city a tremendous amount of money,” Taylor told the News-Journal.

But Rushing, who has criticized the city’s police department, has stated repeatedly that the officers were hired improperly in 2024, so they weren’t technically city employees and therefore couldn’t be technically terminated.

The situation is the latest development in months of controversy surrounding the police department. Since the three officers were let go, the city has had only one police officer on duty, Lt. Eric Tuma. The department has been without a chief since January when former Chief Paul Holland resigned. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office is assisting Tuma.

Monday’s meeting came a little more than a month after Rushing tried and failed to disband the police department, claiming officers were unprofessional and had become involved in city politics.

‘I didn’t break the law’

During a special council meeting Monday at the Hawkins Community Center, council members Taylor, Clara Kay and Eric Maloy entered into an executive session to discuss termination appeals from Morris, Lundberg and Polk.

Rushing and Place 1 Alderman Greg Branson did not enter into the executive session Monday. Rushing claimed the session was illegal but didn’t provide a basis in law for the claim.

Rushing has said the officers were not hired in 2024 according to city ordinance. When Holland was hired as chief in June 2024, Rushing gave him authority to hire officers on his own. However, city ordinance requires that the mayor and police chief interview officers and bring them before the council, which must vote whether to hire them.

Rushing said Monday that she knowingly sidestepped the council’s authority by allowing Holland to hire officers without council approval, a revelation that audience members and council members weren’t happy with.

“That doesn’t sound good at all. That’s telling me that you knew that you broke the law,” Maloy said. Rushing replied: “I didn’t break the law.”

Other council members and attorneys for the officers have said the officers were hired legally. The hirings of the officers were discussed in monthly departmental reports to the City Council, which members approved. Rushing swore the officers into office, though that doesn’t mean they were hired according to ordinance, she said.

Officers and their attorneys were present during Monday’s meeting. Attorney Kenneth Biggs said he believes the officers were hired properly.

“The only thing unlawful done by you is firing them — or allegedly firing them,” Biggs said to Rushing. Rushing replied: “I didn’t fire them because I didn’t hire them.”

The backstory

The claim that the officers weren’t hired properly has significant legal implications. If true, it means actions the officers took — including arrests made and citations issued — could be rendered void under law, Rushing and Municipal Judge Mitch Henderson said during the Feb. 18 meeting. The city could face lawsuits from people who were cited or arrested.

The Hawkins Police Department has been the subject of controversy for months.

In November, Morris and Hawkins resident Todd Eddington got into a scuffle during a council meeting. City utilities director Mike Maberry was arrested in January for his role in the altercation, the same day Holland resigned as chief. Eddington was later arrested on two counts of obstruction or retaliation for posting city officials’ phone numbers on his Facebook page.

Rushing’s relationship with Holland soured after he refused to take part in her attempt to have Branson arrested. Police were investigating whether Branson co-wrote or co-signed improper checks from the Hawkins Community Development Corp. to the Hawkins Chamber of Commerce. Branson serves as president of both organizations.

Rushing said she was willing to sign a warrant for Branson’s arrest based on an affidavit of probable cause written by Eddington, a friend of the mayor. Rushing told Holland that he would serve the warrant if she signed it, but Holland refused, citing concerns about her depth of involvement in the case and saying she was trying to supersede the authority of law enforcement.

Rushing tried to disband the police department in January citing its lack of a chief. She said the department had become unprofessional and involved in city politics. The council heard from numerous residents who spoke in favor of or against the department, and Rushing ultimately was the only council member who voted to disband the agency.

Rushing blocks appeals

Rushing on Monday blocked the council’s vote to grant the officers’ termination appeals, which would have allowed them to return to work. Rushing said the motion to grant their appeals was “out of order” because it was illegal.

After more than an hour of discussion, the meeting ended, and no action was taken. The officers and their attorneys left the meeting and, for the most part, declined to comment on the matter. But Lundberg told the News-Journal that the officers want to return to their jobs to complete work on some criminal cases.

Biggs did not return calls requesting comment Monday.

Rushing said she wanted to fix the situation by rehiring the officers in accordance with city ordinance. That would require the officers’ jobs to be posted for hiring, and Rushing and the police chief would interview the officers and bring them before the council for approval. That process could take at least a month to complete.

But there’s a snag: The city is still without a police chief, and Rushing insists that Tuma — who has served as interim chief previously — isn’t qualified to do fill the position, a notion Tuma contests. However, the city has two applicants for the chief’s position, City Secretary Mandy Thomas said Monday.

Taylor said she was upset with the outcome of Monday’s meeting.

“I do not feel that justice was served,” Taylor said Tuesday. “I feel that the officers and the detective were let down, even though they also had tremendous support from our community. The businesses, the citizens do not want Hawkins to be without a police force.”