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03-07-1968 - Special o o · J 1f U -~ ,~ "\<~ ~ SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDGEWATER, FLORIDA HELD MARCH 7, 1968 The Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Edge- water, Florida held March 7, 1968 was called to order by Mayor W. H. Cairnie in his office at 9:00 A.M. The meeting was called by the City Council for the following purpose: Reorganization of the Police Department's Dispatching Service as Outlined in Resolution No. 229. ROLL CALL Mayor William H. Cairnie Councilman Francis H. Norman Councilman David C. Ledbetter Councilman George M. Dimm Councilman Calvin R. Dietz City Attorney Charles A. Hall City Clerk Elsie L. Ward Deputy Clerk Gertrude B. Dunn Police Chief Herman M. Witmeyer Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Absent Mayor Cairnie opened the meeting by stating that the discussion was to be confined completely to the mechanical changeover of the dispatcher system and the radio system in the police cars. No other business would be permitted in discussion. - Mayor Cairnie then proceeded to state that the "Today" news- paper had printed erroneous information in some of their art- icles. There was some discussion at which point Mr. J. Lodico arose and said that the Mayor was out of order. He said that the Mayor himself had already decided that no business was to be on the agenda except the mechanical changeover of the radio systems in the police cars; now he was going into the business of newspaper articles which were not even relative. v The Mayor then proceeded to explain the mechanical changeover from the present system to the new system. There was some dis- cussion on the length of time it would take an officerto change the radio from one car to another, in the event a car became disabled. This question was resolved, with most agreeing, the time would amount to no more than twenty minutes, and could be done possibly in ten minutes. The Council explained that Chief Witmeyer would be on duty in the station wagon during the day hours. Cars one and two would be on duty during the night, and receive their calls from the New Smyrna Beach Police Department. The Edgewater patrolman will take the violators to the New Smyrna Beach Police Department, the bond money will be paid to the New Smyrna Beach Police De- partment, and every morning Chief Witmeyer would pick up the money and the report on Edgewater police activities for the night previous. A question was raised relative to the reports, as the F.C.C. requires all radio logs be kept one year from entry. The reports would be duplicates. A member of the audience said that Mr. E. Hughes, City Manager of New Smyrna Beach had said the New Smyrna Beach Police Department would only be responsible for five or six calls per night from Edgewater. Attorney Hall inter- rupted and said the situation was to be handled at the discretion of the New Smyrna Beach Chief of Police. Page #1 -~ o o o .., Attorney Hall then asked Mayor Cairnie to confine the comments on the floor to the mechanical changeover and nothing else. Mr. W. T. Harman was recognized by the Chair at this time, and asked what could be done if the new system didn't work out well. "We then wouldn~t have any dispatchers.- Councilman Dimm interspersed with the statement, "What difference does that make? We are going to fire all the dispatchers we have now, and if necessary we will just hire new people". Mr. Harman then stated "Everybody knows from the newspapers that when this situation existed before, and Norman was Chief of Police, hundreds of tickets and over $lO,OOQ.OO was missing. Now it is rumored and in all the newspapers that Norman will be our new Chief of Police~ Are you and your gestapo al.l in cahoots to have the same thing happen again?" Mrs. Norman rose, greatly agitated, and stated that she resented the remarks made by Mr. Harman. Mr. Harman replied, "Lady, it was in all the papers for everybody to read." Attorney Hall again asked the Mayor to restrain the comments, and get on with the meeting and business at hand. Mr. Harman was cautioned that if he did not sit down and remain quiet, he would be evicted from the meeting. Mr. K. Gruber asked if a further change has to be made, would the Council make it or would the public have a vote on it. It was then that Councilman Dimril said, "I was elected to this position of Councilman; I represent you and will do my job as I feel it should be done. I do not need the vote of the public to pass any Resolution". A motion was made at this time by Councilman Dietz, seconded by Councilman Norman to adjourn the meeting. The Mayor tried to adjourn the meeting, but Councilman Dimm made a motion that Dispatcher W. Swetts be dismissed for insubordination and not showing up for work. It was pointed out that Dispatcher Swetts had submitted a letter of resignation, but said letter could not be found. Upon motion duly made by Councilman Dimm to fire Dispatcher Swetts, seconded by Councilman Dietz and passed by vote of the City Council. A dissenting vote was cast by Councilman David Ledbetter. The letter of resignation is to be read at the next regular meeting of the City Council. Councilman Dimm then also asked that Chief Witmeyer be made to appear before the Council, and give an explanation as to why he didn't approve the new system. Councilman Dimm stated that Chief Witmeyer should be dismissed from his position as Chief of Police if he did not go along with the Council's decisions. Councilman Ledbetter said that it was not fair to attack a man for having a personal opinion. He stated that the United States Constitution gave everyone a right to their personal opinion, and he didn't feel the opinion of Chief Witmeyer would interfere with a job well done on his part. Upon motion duly made by Councilman Dimm, that Chief Witmeyer appear before the Council, and give his intent of cooperation or be dismissed, seconded by Councilman Dietz and passed by vote of the City Council. A dissenting vote was cast by Council- man David Ledbetter. After discussion about the availablilty of a suitable person, Councilman duly made motion that a new patrolman be hired by the City of Edgewater. seconded by Councilman Dietz, and passed by vote of the City Council. Councilman Ledbetter said the hiring of a new patrolman should be left to the Chief of Police and approved by the City Council- Page #2 ," ~'.6 o o o There being no further business, motion duly made by Council- man Norman, we now adjourn, seconded by Councilman Dietz and there were no objections. Minutes taken by Gertrude B. Dunn Time of Adjournment 10:05 A.M. W')1'@~ Mayor ~- ~ counc~,man d ~. ~ k~ ~. o~ ~C7'~}lman c~- ATTEST: [j4~ O{. )j~C~ I/E1sie L. Ward, City Clerk