By Matt Steiner
The Gazette
GREEN MOUNTAIN FALLS, Colo. — Green Mountain Falls Police Marshal Tim Bradley and his three volunteer reserve officers resigned this week, one day before newly elected Mayor Jane Newberry and two new town trustees were sworn into office.
Newberry on Thursday confirmed the resignations, which happened Monday. Newberry said she learned of the pending resignations when she attended an emergency meeting and executive session on April 14 in which four of the six trustees and outgoing Mayor Lorrie Worthey were present.
“I went as a citizen to find out what the executive session was all about,” Newberry said.
The resignations were announced after the session, and the board voted to pay the outgoing chief $12,000, Newberry said. The vote was 4-1 with outgoing Trustee Kathryn Guthrie dissenting, Newberry said.
Newberry said Thursday she didn’t understand why Bradley was paid so much upon his resignation, which officially happened at 5 p.m. Monday.
“It’s a curious thing,” she said. “Part of it was vacation pay, part of it was sick pay and part of it was overtime pay. But if you’re salaried you don’t usually get that.”
Newberry said the El Paso County and Teller County sheriff’s offices agreed to help with law enforcement in the town of about 700 people until the police issue is resolved.
Jackie Kirby, an El Paso County Sheriff’s spokeswoman, said her office has done dispatch for the town’s police and fire departments “for years.”
“We will answer calls for service there just like we would with any other district in the county,” she said.
This isn’t the first case of uncertainty that Green Mountain Falls has had with its police department. In July 2013, the Board of Trustees looked into replacing the town marshal with a private security company. That discussion was made with the “mayor out of the loop,” the article said.
At that time, Lorrie Worthey was in her first term as mayor. Worthey unsuccessfully ran for a third, two-year term against Newberry in April.
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