CENTRAL — Central City Council members voted unanimously to reject Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran’s recommendation to fire Assistant Chief of Police Cliff Ivey.
Corcoran did not state the reasons why he thought Ivey should be terminated, but council members discussed the recommendation during a closed-door executive session, ultimately deciding to keep Ivey on as assistant police chief.
That executive session lasted approximately three hours.
In Central, a police chief can only recommend disciplinary actions to the city council, who must agree with the chief’s recommendation.
Some members of the public wore tee-shirts emblazoned with “Ivey” across the front during the meeting.
“I’m recommending that this council find any and all disciplinary actions recommended by Chief Corcoran against Assistant Chief Ivey not to warrant termination. Assistant Chief Ivey has provided detailed documentation and evidence countering each of the claims levied against him,”
Councilman At-Large Aaron McKinney said before the council members voted to reject Corcoran’s recommendation.
By overturning the Chief’s recommendation, Ivey will likely return to duty. He was placed on administrative leave last week by Chief Corcoran.
Central Mayor Wade Evans tells UWK that if Corcoran had gone before the council and stated that he didn’t feel he and Ivey could continue working together based on their professional relationship, the council may have been more likely to side with Corcoran. Instead, Evans said that Corcoran tried to build a case against Ivey, which he believed had insufficient evidence, and said that is likely why the council voted against the Chief’s recommendations.
“He built a case to terminate him, and the case that he presented was insufficient,” Evans said. “If you’re accused of something and you defend yourself, where seven out of seven say no, if it were a trial by jury, we would say ‘Okay, not guilty’.”
Going forward, Evans said he’s concerned about the working relationship between Corcoran and his second in command, who also served as legal counsel, and he said he would likely resign if he were in Ivey’s shoes.
“If I was the Assistant Chief, I would resign. It’s just where I’m at. But I’m not the assistant chief, and he’s got his own decision to make. It’s unfortunate that the relationship has gotten to the point where it came to this. I told the chief, ‘You don’t have to build a case.’ This is an at-will state. We’re not civil servants. A simple ‘Hey, this guy and I can’t work together’ is sufficient for me, and I’d be good with that,” Evans explained.
“It was all the other stuff that was asserted. It was my understanding that the Office of Disciplinary Council was contacted about the Assistant Chief by the Chief. That’s all troubling to me. That makes it too personal. This shouldn’t be this way.”
Evans would not say what allegations Corcoran made against Ivey that ultimately led to the recommendation and subsequent executive session, but said he felt the procedures the council took to investigate the claims were sufficient.
“They (council) were able to interview each person independently and make their decisions based on that. They interviewed the chief. They interviewed the assistant chief and they interviewed the person who did the internal investigation,” Evans said.
Corcoran sent UWK a statement regarding his recommendation to the council.
“The Internal Affairs file contains all the reasons for my recommendation of termination of the Assistant Chief, and a lot of what is being said is inaccurate. It is my job to recommend discipline to the Council, but it’s their decision whether or not to hold officers accountable for their actions,” Corcoran wrote.
UWK reached out to Ivey, but as of publication, he never returned the phone calls.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
