Chaffee officials mum on vote for police chief

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Chaffee may have to wait until Thursday to find out who its next police chief will be -- or if its former chief will be reinstated.

The Chaffee City Council entered into a closed session Monday night to allow council members to vote, but no announcement of their choice was made. Mayor Steve Loucks said following the closed session that the city has 72 hours to release the result of the vote. Around 30 residents and others who attended the meeting waited for an announcement outside city hall.

Missouri's meeting laws for governmental bodies require that the result of a closed session vote be made public no later than 72 hours following the meeting in which the vote is taken.

City officials have said former chief Jim Chambers could receive his job back if a city police board recommendation is supported by council members.

Chambers was fired by a vote of the council during a March 1 closed session meeting after police department logs showed he and Loucks ordered city employees, including a Chaffee police officer, to take a dog believed to be a stray to the city dump, shoot it and not tell anyone. The dog that was shot belonged to a local family, who registered a complaint against the city with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Findings of an agriculture department investigation shut down the impound until the city could bring it into compliance. A check last week with the department showed the city has brought its practices and facilities up to standards required for licensure through the state's animal care program and will soon be issued a license.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said following the incident that he believed a crime had been committed when the dog was shot and requested animal abuse and false declaration charges for Loucks as well as false declaration charges for Chambers. Prosecutors declined to file any, citing a lack of evidence that would result in a criminal conviction.

During the open session meeting, council members approved paying the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri $2,500 per year to take animals that needed to be held more than 10 days in Chaffee's animal impound.

eragan@semissourian.com

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Chaffee, MO