The City of Milner's entire full-time police department has submitted resignations, along with the city manager, who told council members Monday that a breakdown in trust had made her unable to do her job.
City Manager Tausha Grose announced the departures at the Oct. 19 City Council meeting. She said the police department's last day would be Oct. 28 and hers would be Oct. 30.
"The trust is gone. I have been rendered ineffective in my position," Grose said. "There is no trust."
The resignations include Police Chief Lamar Bunn and the department's full-time officers. Grose also said most of its part-time officers had resigned.
Both Grose and Bunn rejected the suggestion that a dispute over officers' outside work was the reason for their departures. Grose said officers could continue working part-time jobs but had temporarily been barred from using city vehicles for that work.
Bunn raised concerns about surveillance, saying officers could not trust that cameras or tracking devices would not be used without their knowledge.
"If I cannot do my job, if I'm not given an opportunity to do my job with character, I can't do it," he said.
Bunn said he had not asked other officers to resign with him and was not the first to submit his resignation.
Despite announcing his departure, he expressed interest in resolving the dispute before Oct. 28.
"So it's the trust issue. If it can be fixed, we need to fix it," Bunn said.
Mayor Craig Timmons told The Herald Gazette he had not expected the resignations. Asked whether he had placed a tracker on Bunn's vehicle, the mayor declined to comment directly, the newspaper reported.
Grose, who said she had devoted six years to the city, described leaving as painful.
"It breaks my heart to have to resign," she said.
