The Blountstown City Council voted 4-1 at Tuesday night’s special session to retain Police Chief Mark “Kipper” Mallory for another year. Councilman Ronnie Williams, Sr. cast the only no vote. The standing room only crowd applauded the decision to keep Mallory as chief.
The special session was called after last week’s regular council meeting. During the first meeting of the new year, the Council always votes on whether to retain the services of the city attorney, city manager and police chief. Both the attorney and manager were rehired, but a consensus was not reached on the chief’s post. Mayor Tony Shoemake and Councilman James Griffin were in favor of keeping Mallory. Councilwoman Beverly Veress and Councilman Ronnie Williams, Sr. were opposed. Councilwoman Janie Boyd was the deciding vote and she said she would like to meet again and discuss some concerns with Chief Mallory.
Issues were clearly worked out during the week as Mayor Shoemake called for the vote at the start of the special meeting. Councilwoman Veress had a change of heart and was in favor of keeping Mallory. Councilwoman Boyd also cast a yes vote, making it 4-1 in favor.