Councilmember Clayton Pack speaks up

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Councilmember Clayton Pack spoke to the Manning Times on Sunday, although he preferred his comments be released after Blair Shaffer’s grievance hearing. He felt it best not to give the impression of trying to sway the Grievance Committee’s recommendation. “I’m just going to try to tell the truth the best way I can tell it,” said Pack. According to Pack, there had been issues with the Police Department for some time. These were not solely with Shaffer. The concern was for the officers and for the city. He stands by his statement that several police officers had come to him with concerns, and other council members had told Pack that officers had come to them as well. However, the concerns were not all specifically about Shaffer. Some were regarding departmental issues and procedures. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t have a headline of a cop being killed or a citizen being injured or killed,” said Pack. For several years, Pack says the Council has received citizen complaints, although it has worsened in the last six to nine months. These complaints ranged from unjustified body cavity searches and blowing small infractions into large crimes to off-duty police officers running citizens off the road. However, in trying to speak with Shaffer and City Administrator Scott Tanner, Pack states it was always downplayed by Shaffer who felt his officers were always justified in any official actions taken and were innocent of any suggestions of off-duty impropriety. “It’s our job to make sure Manning is a safe place and a place people desire to come to,” said Pack, who is concerned about the reputation Manning is gaining regarding the actions of the police department. When the City Council moved the public safety departments under the authority of the Public Safety Committee, it was done because they felt Tanner wasn’t appropriately handling the situations that were arising. Pack states the intent was to fix the situation, not terminate Shaffer. During the initial meeting attempting to remedy the situation, the Committee met with pushback and with Shaffer’s refusal to see that his officers were in the wrong. “We weren’t trying to put any blame. We were just trying to make sure nothing happened. We wanted to address it. We weren’t trying to fire anyone,” said Pack. Pack addressed the situation mentioned during the hearing wherein Mayor Julia Nelson and Pack both received phone calls during the June 5 budget workshop and left the room. Pack states his call was not associated with Julia or her call. It was a business call. “I think Blair did a lot of great things for the City of Manning. But when we tried to correct things, it wasn’t working,” said Pack. According to Pack, when they tried to address the situations with Shaffer, Shaffer became aggressive and angry, both in voice and in body language. During the meeting, Shaffer shouted that if the Committee didn’t like how he was handling things, they should fire him. The fact that Shaffer was in uniform and armed intimidated and frightened the Committee, which led to the decision to remain in chambers during the grievance process on July 24 rather than be in a “small room alone with him.” After his assertion that they should fire him if they didn’t like how he handled things, the Committee met again to discuss it. According to Pack, Nelson did not want to fire Shaffer but insisted they find a way to mend the situation. He stated she urged the Committee not to take such a final step but to find a way to work things out and move forward with Shaffer as the police chief. However, Mayor Pro-tem Sherry Welle and Pack were both deeply concerned with the behavior they were seeing and felt there was no other alternative. According to Pack, both he and Welle voted to terminate. Nelson did not vote, as she would only vote in the case of a tie. “She was really trying to fix it,” said Pack. “She didn’t want to fire him, and honestly, neither did we.” Pack stated they felt it was necessary and was best for the City. Pack does recognize Shaffer’s need to defend himself and his officers, and he respects that. He acknowledges he would have had the desire to defend himself and his department in Shaffer’s shoes. However, Pack’s concern was that he felt Shaffer had blinders on to the actions of his officers, and the way Shaffer went about defending things was disturbing. Coupled with Shaffer’s alleged attitude of letting him do what he wanted or fire him, the Committee could only see things getting worse in the future. “Nobody was trying to hurt anyone else. Shaffer might see it that way, but we weren’t trying to hurt him. We were trying to make Manning better,” said Pack. “I hate this.” Pack addressed the speculations regarding the prior planning to fire Shaffer based on how quickly they performed the swearing in ceremony for Interim Police Chief Keith Grice. According to Pack, Grice was not their first choice for an interim chief. Two other names were considered first: Carroll Harrington and former Manning Police Major Doug Ridgeway. The fact that Grice had recently retired from the highway patrol was coincidence, not planned. “I never meant for any of this to happen, and definitely Julia didn’t mean for it to happen either. Even after yelled at her and went into a rage at her, and almost came up there, the way it looked, she still didn’t want to fire him,” said Pack. Pack addressed the ordinance and how it was created. “We were trying to do the best thing. We were led by our administrator and outside counsel,” said Pack. He asserted the City Attorney still states the ordinance was created legally, and they were following his advice in how to handle things. “We just have a messed-up situation. We were just trying to do the right thing, and it went somewhere else. Nobody was trying to do anybody wrong. There was not plotting. We were trying to make it better,” said Pack. “We have so many things our city needs. We don’t need to get stuck here. We need to move forward and let things settle down.”