Eatonville’s manager fired the town’s top cop — a month after the chief got the job.

McIntyre’s ouster may be tied to incident with deputy

Eatonville fired Police Chief Eric McIntyre on Tuesday, less than a month after he was appointed to the post by the Town Council.

Town Manager Roger Dixon said that “the chief had some administrative challenges and we decided to go in another direction in order to build a better department.”

McIntyre said he was called into the office of Town Manager Roger Dixon on Tuesday morning.

“The [town] manager gave me some documents indicating termination,” McIntyre said. “It’s really a suspensiontype thing, but they say I’m terminated.”

Dixon would not specify the administration’s issues with McIntyre, but the main issue seemed to be McIntyre’s push to fire Deputy Chief Joseph Jenkins, who is now acting head of the department after McIntyre’s firing.

Jenkins was placed on leave from August until last week for allegedly searching a teen’s book bag without permission.

Dixon wrote that McIntyre’s recommendation to fire Jenkins for the incident was “unjustified and extreme.”

Dixon also said that McIntyre denied that he wrote a memo recommending Jenkins be fired and turned away the town’s technology employee when she tried to retrieve the memo from a computer.

McIntyre would not comment on the letters and referred comment to his attorney, W. Marvin Hardy III.

Hardy said that the complaints from the administration were “little, nit-picking stuff, like an alleged failure to show up on time for meetings. Nothing dishonest, though they accused him of lying. But it seems to me, if there was a problem it would have been brought up to council.”

In a letter sent to Dixon and Mayor Anthony Grant on Friday, Hardy said Dixon had also sent out “unwarranted” memos to McIntyre about tardiness on Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, little more than a week after he was officially ap-

pointed by town council on Sept. 22.

In the memos, Dixon stated that McIntyre was 10 to 45 minutes late to staff meetings six times in July, August and September and was an hour late for a meeting on Oct. 5.

Hardy alleged that Grant “was trying to pressure him to quit as chief and he wouldn’t do it. And here we are.”

“I just feel as though the actions of the administration are unjust,” McIntyre said. “I believe that the citizens of the town of Eatonville and [Town] Council will see through this unjustness.”

McIntyre, who has been with the department since 1999, was named interim chief in April after former Police Chief Eugenio Bernal resigned March 31, saying that Grant hadtarnished his reputation.

Bernal and several other department heads had been asked by Grant to turn in letters of resignation in March, shortly after Grant took office as mayor. McIntyre served as interim chief until his appointment in September.

“I’m a little shocked,” Councilman Eddie Cole said. “Council’s supposed to be (hiring and firing). This is another unilateral move from Mayor Grant. If things keep happening, it’s probably going to get the city to a place where we don’t want to be.”

Grant confirmed that McIntyre had been terminated and referred questions to Dixon, who would not comment on whether to power to hire and fire the chief rests with the council or with him.

At the meeting, Cole argued that appointment power rests with the council. But Town Attorney Joseph Morrell said that their power “does not mention termination.” Hardy addressed the council during the session before saying he and McIntyre would appeal.

“I pray with the Lord’s help I’ll be reinstated,” McIntyre said, prior to the meeting.