Marion Police Chief Requests Equipment, Fuel Access During Council Meeting
Marion Police Chief NiKisha Gailes asked the City Council for fuel access, citation equipment and vehicle decals during her departmental report Monday, July 20. The council approved the fuel request. The remaining requests were never voted on, after an exchange between Gailes and Councilman Stanley Kennie ended with Kennie walking out and the council losing its quorum.
Gailes has served as interim chief since November, when the previous police chief and three other officers resigned. The council has not voted to make the appointment permanent.
After a brief reference to the printed report given to council members, Gailes laid out a list of requests for her department.
“We have a problem with our gas situation. Especially on the weekends,” Gailes said.
Gailes told the council that neither she nor her officers have direct access to fuel. Under the current system, only two city employees who maintain the facility where officers fuel up hold keys to the pumps. If neither is on hand, they have to be called in.
“Me not having a key, or one of my corporals not having a key is a safety hazard for the citizens,” Gailes said. She said that if the situation does not improve, one option would be to station officers at the police department and dispatch them only when called.
City Clerk Laura Hinton said that while she was working at City Hall the previous weekend, she had to call Mayor Dexter Hinton and Councilman Bernard Arrington about refueling patrol vehicles on Saturday, July 18. Officers could not reach either employee with key access, she said, and used one of the city’s debit cards to fuel up at the Valero on Washington Street. Clerk Hinton said it would be a liability for police not to have fuel in their vehicles to respond to emergency calls, and that this was why she contacted the mayor for permission to use the funds.
Kennie asked Clerk Hinton what solution she would propose.
“My solution is to give the chief a key for the gas and resolve it,” Mayor Hinton said.
City Attorney Ainka Sanders Jackson and Clerk Hinton then went over the boundaries on access to the municipal fuel supply, including signing a log sheet to track usage. Clerk Hinton said that in the past the police chief, the fire chief and the employees who run the city’s mechanic shop all had key access, and said she would favor returning to that system, citing accountability among supervisors over their own departments.
Kennie asked whether a gas tank could be installed behind City Hall for the police department. Mayor Hinton recommended giving the chief keys to the existing pumps first, then assessing the cost and feasibility of a fueling station closer to the police department, with the keys returned to the city if that station were built. Jackson said a fueling station that close to City Hall would carry additional liabilities and would require more cost analysis.
A motion to give the police chief, fire chief and city shop personnel keys to the city’s fueling station was moved by Arrington and seconded by Kennie. It passed unanimously.
Councilwoman Ann Lecroy asked what fund would pay for a proposed new pump. Clerk Hinton said it would come from the city’s general fund.
Gailes then asked the council to fund new eCite equipment.
“We’re operating and sharing one printer. That’s why the citations are so low,” Gailes said.
Gailes said she had discussed with Clerk Hinton the possibility of using money from the police department’s drug fund for the equipment. Kennie asked for clarification on what was being requested. After Gailes explained the technology needed to share information and issue citations, Mayor Hinton asked the cost. Gailes gave a quote of $1,949 to outfit two vehicles.
Lecroy asked about potential revenue from the statewide Click It or Ticket grant program in May. Gailes said the department has to work the grant to receive the $2,500 award, and that the lack of eCite equipment kept the city from participating.
Lecroy then asked about decals on MPD vehicles. Gailes said approval for additional decals on unmarked vehicles had been tabled by the council for three to four months. She also took issue with the council’s failure to declare out-of-service MPD vehicles as surplus. Asked the cost to decal the two unmarked vehicles, Gailes gave a quote of $1,000 per vehicle.
Mayor Hinton offered a motion to approve both the $1,949 for eCite equipment and $2,000 for decals, a total of $3,949.
“I’ve got one discussion before we go further,” Kennie said, turning to address Gailes directly. “We bought two units and they’re supposed to be service units. We did not purchase a vehicle for you.”
“I’m the police. I work for the police department,” Gailes said.
Kennie said the new vehicles were meant for new recruits serving the city. The two then spoke over each other.
When Kennie asked to finish, Gailes said, “Let me respond, because I already knew y’all were going to wait until the city council. Y’all had a whole month to respond to my email. A email was sent out a month ago, you should’ve addressed me from day one.”
The Times-Standard-Herald has obtained a copy of that email, a June 28 message sent by Gailes to the mayor, city clerk and council. The city has not responded to records requests from this newspaper.
In the email, Gailes refers throughout to an unnamed councilman who had raised concerns about her purchase of a new vehicle. She writes that as police chief she answers directly to the mayor rather than the legislative body, and that a councilman’s concerns about her department’s operation should go to the mayor. She writes that the decision to buy a new vehicle for herself and return her former unit to the fleet was discussed with and approved by the mayor in advance.
Gailes writes that she presented the council with a quote for four new units, one for each officer in her department, and that the council approved two. She writes that several meetings lacked a quorum, tabling the purchase and forcing her to obtain updated bids repeatedly. The two approved units were a Ford F-150 and a Ford Explorer, with the F-150 intended as an administrative unit for the chief. She writes that June 24, when the units were delivered and council members met with her to inspect them, was an opportunity for councilmen to raise concerns about the administrative unit.
“When you asked me directly, ‘Does it matter what kind of vehicle we get,’” Kennie began.
“I didn’t ask you that,” Gailes said, repeating it three times.
“Let me finish. You said, ‘Does it matter what kind of vehicle we get?’ And I said, ‘It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not a Jaguar,’” Kennie said. Gailes refers to that remark in the opening of the June 28 email.
The two again spoke over each other. Kennie stood and began passing photographs to council members and citizens in attendance. The photographs showed the interior driver’s side of an active MPD unit with dirty floor mats and refuse on the passenger side.
“One thing you got to realize is that y’all got to start taking care of your equipment, if you want to keep us buying it,” Kennie said.
“Let me say this right here, I don’t need help from the city council on telling me how to do my job. All I need help from y’all is support. That’s all I need from y’all,” Gailes said from the podium.
More crosstalk followed before Mayor Hinton banged the gavel and Kennie took his seat.
Mayor Hinton said that while he is not privy to day-to-day operations, the department needed the funding. “I trust in you to be able to do your job,” he told Gailes, adding, “I’m approving it.”
“That is totally illegal because you cannot decide for yourself to give her a admin vehicle to drive back and forth to work,” Kennie said. “If she wants a car to drive back and forth to work, she needs to buy one.”
“She is the chief of police, that is called out at any time,” Mayor Hinton said before Kennie stood again.
“Y’all learn how to run a meeting,” Kennie said, and walked out.
“I think we got it down pat,” Gailes said as he left. She continued addressing the room before Clerk Hinton and Kennie interjected, leading to more crosstalk.
“You’re not the chief. You’re the interim chief,” Kennie said from the back of the room.
Gailes has held the position on an interim basis since November.
“Let me let you understand something Mr. Stanley Kennie, you can intimidate everybody else in this room, but I’m not intimidated by no means,” Gailes responded.
Jackson and Clerk Hinton then noted that the council no longer had a quorum. Clerk Hinton asked for a brief recess to address Kennie’s concerns.
“This is every month, we can’t get nowhere. My department does what they’re supposed to do, Mayor,” Gailes said.
“You requested four vehicles to accommodate everyone, Chief. I understand,” Mayor Hinton said.
“I’m not going to be intimidated in this position. I don’t care who you are. Y’all don’t need me, I don’t need y’all. Y’all called me up here. I’m so sick of this. Pettiness. That’s all it is. Petty stuff,” Gailes said from the podium.
Clerk Hinton returned to the room and said Kennie intended to come back, and asked for a five-minute recess. Mayor Hinton said the meeting would reconvene after discussions.
No vote was taken on the $1,949 for eCite equipment or the $2,000 for decals.
