West Buechel is losing its police chief amid turmoil over the mayor's decision to purchase a K-9 unit.
The upheaval continued after the chief's resignation when the mayor leap-frogged one of her lieutenants and appointed a sergeant interim chief, one city council member says.
These days, West Buechel Mayor Sharon Fowler is used to being in the hot seat for her decision to purchase a K-9 unit. "I've been under attack for quite a while now," Fowler says. "We have had a need for a dog several times over the last month or two."
That's even though the city's two top police officers are against it. Fowler said she "...really wasn't able to get details as to why they didn't want it."
However, she added, "There's a lot of drug activity going on in the mall area and possibly in the residential area as well."
There are rumors the decision led to the resignation of West Buechel Police Chief Jeff Manning.
"Well, I didn't really expect him to resign," said West Buechel city council member Loy Crawford, one of the mayor's biggest critics. He blames her for the chief's resignation.
"I have heard that, that things weren't going well, and this new thing about the K-9 unit that the mayor wanted to put on, and he (Manning) was probably not in favor of it like she was."
WDRB News has obtained a handwritten agenda for a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday; number one on the list is the mayor's decision to appoint one of her sergeants as interim chief.
"This appointment that she has made with Sgt. Sharp, that is completely out of hand. That's out of control and we hope to do that tomorrow night." And before he's done, Crawford even takes a shot at the departing chief.
"You know, he had a lot of problems, carried a lot of baggage from Metro into here," Crawford said. "When he got in trouble with Metro, then he became our chief."
Manning told WDRB News he did not want to say much about his resignation, but it is something he has been considering for awhile.