Oran town board fired officer before hiring him as police chief; city officials say they can't remember reason for firing

A current Oran, Missouri, alderman once made a motion to fire the man who later became the police chief, but said he can’t remember why.

Alderman Gil Roslen made the motion to fire part-time police officer Gregg Ourth, according to May 1, 2001, board minutes.

Minutes show the motion passed 7-0 but then was changed to 6-1, according to a copy of the records provided by Oran resident Cindy Seyer.

Seyer has been reviewing records concerning possible fraudulent activity involving the small-town police department.

Minutes of the meeting did not list how each alderman voted, a violation of Missouri’s open-meeting law that states final hiring and firing votes must be taken by roll-call vote and include a record of how each member voted.

Those minutes also do not include any discussion as to why Ourth was terminated. Missouri’s “Sunshine Law” does not require public bodies to disclose such information.

Roslen said he made the motion but doesn’t recall why then-police chief Howard Stevens wanted to terminate Ourth as a police officer in 2001.

But the alderman said “there was no timecard fraud involving Gregg.”

Tom Urhahn, the current city clerk, was mayor when Ourth was terminated and when he was rehired as police chief. Urhahn said Stevens recommended terminating Ourth, but he said, “I don’t remember Howard ever saying why. It was his call.”

Urhahn said, “There was no timecard fraud in my time. I know that for a fact.”

In 2013, the board hired Ourth as police chief.

Seyer said in reviewing city records, she has found no minutes for closed sessions held Sept. 5 and Nov. 16, 2000, and Jan. 9 and March 6, 2001.

She said she knows those sessions were held, because minutes of the open meetings show the board voted to go into closed session on those dates.

Former city clerk Debra Phillips said Ourth was fired as a part-time police officer for the town in May 2001 over allegations of timecard fraud.

City officials have said there is no evidence to support that claim.

Seyer has not found any record of the meeting cited by Phillips, but suggests the missing records would have backed the allegation.

According to Phillips, it was reported in the minutes Stevens said Ourth on a number of occasions had clocked in, then driven the patrol car over to his girlfriend’s house and parked it in the garage.

Ourth would clock out at the end of his shift, Stevens told the board, Phillips said the board minutes disclosed.

“Howard did his own surveillance,” Phillips said, adding the minutes she read indicated Ourth at times did not respond to police calls though records show he was clocked in.

“Stevens recommended the board fire Gregg because he wasn’t working; he wasn’t responding to calls,” Phillip said, citing board minutes from memory.

Stevens died in October 2012.

Phillips was not city clerk at the time of the firing. But she said in 2008, when she became city clerk, she read the minutes of a 2001 closed-door meeting of the board of aldermen in which Stevens recommended Ourth be fired.

Ourth did not return voice messages from the Southeast Missourian seeking his response to the accusations.

Seyer questioned why the town board would hire the same man who was fired more than a decade earlier.

Phillips said it was the practice of the mayor to take minutes of closed-session meetings. As mayor, Urhahn would have taken the minutes of the meeting where the board voted to terminate Ourth, Phillips said.

She said Urhahn often has bragged “he never forgets anything.”

Ourth said at a town board meeting last week Stevens told him he was terminated because of lack of funds to pay for a part-time officer, Phillips and Seyer recalled.

Mayor Gary Senciboy refused to discuss the matter when contacted by a reporter Friday seeking to corroborate what happened.

“You slandered the city, you slandered me, you slandered my chief of police,” Senciboy said.

“I am not going to comment anymore. All you are doing is printing false s---,” he added before hanging up.

Senciboy was elected mayor in April 2014, a few months after Jason Ourth was hired as an officer.

After Senciboy became mayor, Phillips was replaced as city clerk by Urhahn, the former mayor.

Phillips said she was replaced because she raised the timecard issue. Senciboy said in May that Urhahn’s hiring had nothing to do with the timecard issue.

Seyer and Phillips in April publicly raised accusations Ourth engaged in nepotism in hiring his son Jason as a part-time officer, and Jason had engaged in timecard fraud similar to the past accusations made against his father.

Jason Ourth subsequently resigned.

Gregg Ourth said last month the allegations were groundless and amounted to “vindictiveness” on the part of Phillips and Seyer.

The two women repeatedly have asked the town board to request the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigate the matter. The board has refused to do so, defending the actions of both Ourths as well as the city.

Seyer has made written requests to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and Scott County Sheriff Wes Drury asking the highway patrol be called in to investigate the allegations.

On May 19, Drury wrote in an email to Seyer he had contacted the prosecutor’s office and was “awaiting further direction.”

Drury said in an email to the Southeast Missourian on Friday he “passed along” Seyer’s request to the prosecutor’s office.

Last Tuesday, Paula Bouge, office manager for the Scott County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, emailed Seyer.

“I know that you are frustrated and are wanting answers. Sheriff Drury did put in a request for an investigation,” Bouge wrote.

“Because this remains an open request for investigation, we cannot make comment at this time,” she said.

Seyer said she doesn’t know whether that means there will be an investigation.

Bouge declined to comment when contacted by the Southeast Missourian, again citing the “open request for investigation.”

Meanwhile, Seyer said she was contacted by phone by an investigator with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, but is uncertain what actions the state agency is taking in response to her request.

The state agency has not responded to email requests from the Southeast Missourian as to the status of any investigation concerning the Oran Police Department.

Seyer and Phillips said they have run into a roadblock at city hall when it comes to their continuing efforts to review city records. Urhahn, the clerk, repeatedly has canceled appointments for the women to review board minutes, they said.

Seyer last week filed a “Sunshine Law” complaint with the Attorney General’s Office about the lack of access to public records.

Casey Lawrence, Sunshine Law coordinator, responded in an email to Seyer the complaint had been received and “it will be addressed.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Oran, Mo.