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Flomaton Police Chief Released By Town’s Mayor
July 10, 2009
Flomaton Police Chief Tim Hardage has been released, according to Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr. because the two did not see eye to eye.
“He and I just didn’t work well together. Sometimes that happens,” Bondurant told NorthEscambia.com Thursday. “I called him into my office and I terminated him.”
Hardage is not accused of any wrongdoing during his service as Flomaton police chief, according to Bondurant. The mayor said Hardage was a “good police officer” while on the streets of Flomaton.
The Flomaton Town Council will decide Monday night who will lead the police department while the search for a new police chief begins, Bondurant said.
Hardage joined the Flomaton Police Department as chief on February 23, 2009.
Comments
36 Responses to “Flomaton Police Chief Released By Town’s Mayor”
Concerning:
“AND YES- Public Officials do have to comply with Morals and Standards concerning their character- Just ask Bill Clinton”
Actually, President Clinton proved you can get away with anything if you don’t mind embarassing yourself and your family.
The President IS above the law. He can not be compelled to do anything and can only be stopped if Congress is willing to impeach and remove him from office.
Only two presidents were ever impeached and neither was removed from office. The first, Andrew Johnson, was actually innocent. The second was proven to have lied to a federal judge regarding federal charges that he used his position to gain sexual favors. His defenders said “Well, everybody lies about sex.”
it did not matter to them that ti was a federal crime.
Lesser officials have twisted the law as they saw fit. Consider W. D. Childers. he got in trouble as county commissioner because he kept acting like he had always done in state office. Yes, he finally got caught but how many do not? Even at that he almost walked and the judge who complained had to face the wrath of the state supreme court for mentioning the judge handling his case had too close of ties with him, the one who wanted to turn him loose out of hand.
Please consider:
“But public officilas who can gain trust and confidence of young people who are having problems can overstep the bounds of the law and take advantage of the situation.”
and the previous statement:
“There comes a time we have to trust our elected officials even when we do not understand the whys.We might not want to know or if we found out we might regret knowing the whole story.”
I wish you could see how they contradict each other.
My hero, Ronald Reagan, used to say, “Trust, but verify” What it really means is, Don’t trust
or possibly
People will be as honest as they have to be.
Blindly trusting whoever is in whatever office or position makes as much sense as driving down the road with eyes closed.
Inside scoop,
I hate to disagree, but we have a good leader and Mayor Bondurant has lead 100 times better than his last two predecessors. Yes, mayor Bondurant has been out patrolling the streets. He responded to complaints Saturday evening to rectify a miss-handled situation. AND YES- Public Officials do have to comply with Morals and Standards concerning their character- Just ask Bill Clinton, or Senator Larry Craig and the Airport Bathroom incident, or Eliot Spitzer and his $1000 prostitute scandal, the lists go on and on. Did any of these incidents have anything to do with their job performance-NO! They are expected to conduct themselves in an upstanding manner as a representation of the citizens they serve. KEY WORD-SERVE, the taxpayers pay these people and expect them to have a good Moral standing in the community. When that is tarnished they, their supervisors and the citizens they represent loose all credibility. AND his selection in officers is questionable. Look into why HE let one go the week before, it wasn’t because of job performance.
First off no ones personal life should have anything to do with their job performance. I know the situation and there is a lot more to it than the mayor wants to say. Tim is a great man and chief who had great visions for the town. He planned on bringing more officers to the community to help with the drugs and conduct of the streets. Honestly, i would love to see the mayor patrol the streets one night and see how well he would do..we need a city offical that can actually manage the city . Lord please help us ..
Bottom line, WAS THE MAN DOING HIS JOB? Then so what if he and the mayor do not see eye to eye. He is there to enforce the law as the state and other government agencies say it should. Not to be friends with the Mayor. As I believe the mayor himself stated he is not accused of any wrong doing and was a GOOD POLICE OFFICER on the street. Then whats the problem?
Justa Comment
Tell your neighbor the next time she has a problem with her not so clean mouth neighbor to get her video camera out. You can’t dispute what you see and hear on camera. I believe in the power of video!! When she sees them thru the window with the camera take it to the police. Hope it works!!!
For David Green
;investication by the state found that the young girls could not be proven”chaste virgins” so nothing could be done. When written evidence of the officers behavior was provided to the town, the officers were fired. The only recourse the families got were statements that the officers would never hold a position of public trust anywhere again. The good old boy politics won again.
so no more young girls would ever be taken advantage of again.These were not young girls but high school girls that some say “should have known better than participate in activities they knew were wrong”.But public officilas who can gain trust and confidence of young people who are having problems can overstep the bounds of the law and take advantage of the situation.Our judicial system is not always fair or just! But it is better than any other countires that I know of.
regarding the Century police department hirings and firings:
What they actually found out was that they could hire easily but firing was hard, well nigh impossible. It was easier to disband the police department than it was to fire an officer with a number of forged instruments convictions.
As far as claims officers were inapproprately involved with young girls, firing is ridiculous in cases where the proper response is arrest for child molesting. If it ever happened, I mean. Imagine telling someone, You can’t do that here anymore but we will let you go do it elsewhere.
Mayor Bondurant’s statement looks silly but he is a reasonable person so I assume the actual reason was reasonable.
Mother .. I understand where you are coming from and I agree with you.. I live in Flomaton and had been hearing things for quite sometime , and was glad to hear he is no longer our Chief. I feel the Mayor did what he and the Council felt they needed to do. I for one do not want a chief that was doing the things I heard. This was not a case of who you know or what you know it was a case of what you were doing. I want a chief I can be proud of and frankly Tim is not one of them THANKS MAYOR BONDURANT! I hope we can find someone now that will make all of us proud….. I have a suggestion but I’ll keep that one to myself …..
I, for one, do not know the particulars of the reason that the Chief was fired, but, I did have some problems with the way the department handled some things in general. For instance, one of my friends in Flomaton has a problem with a neighbor that screams obsenities at her children when ever they play in their own yard. They have filed numerous complaints, all to no avail. Each time they do this, the unruly neighbor retaliates, always in a different way. My friends went to the station to file a complaint about how the responding officers felt they could do nothing. Personally, I disagree, they should have arrested the individual for disturbing the peace if nothing else. Maybe we’ll never know for sure why Tim was fired, but I think that the police need to do the job of protecting the public, not only peacefully, but aggressively, when they are protecting children.
The mayor of Flomaton is a Bondurant. Wow glade i left.
I would like to thank the mayor for taking out the trash………..he had a very good reason !
BGA,that was very noble of you!!!!!!
I am glad to know there’s still a value
on humbleness!!!!!Thank you being a blessing to me….
Thats ok William……. i understand what you are saying but ! what i wrote is the truth and the fact! … but its ok if i write something that cant be posted just catch me on it thanks SORRY!
BGA — I went back and check the comments from you that were not posted. They violate the rules below because they all violate rule #3 below. They say things that are not fact as stated by the mayor or backed up by any public record documentation.
I THINK THIS PAGE SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF OF HERE CLOSE THIS STORY OUT!!!!!!!!!! SOME SAY WHAT THEY WANT AND SOME CAN’T I WROTE 3 DIFFERENT THINGS ON HERE TODAY ABOUT LUNCH TIME AND IT IS NOT ON HERE YET,,,,, SO I GUESS THE FREAKING TRUTH WILL NOT BE PUT ON HERE…….. SORRY YOU ALL COULD NOT READ WHAT I WROTE. MAYBE NEXT TIME ! ……DON’T GET ME WRONG HERE I LOVE TO READ NORTH ESCAMBIA.COM ….HEY THAT SAVES ME 75 CENT A WEEK WE GET THE NEWS HERE 24/7 THE 75 CENT PAPER WEEKLEY KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK WILLIAM
Perhaps the Mayor has more insight than citizens are giving him credit for. My Mother always told me “What goes around comes around!” I believe it just came around for Mr. Hardage.
All,
William is correct and abiding by rule #3. I will not elaborate on the reason for the firing, I will however say this in the Mayor, Town Council and City’s defense. Mayor Bondurant did not fire Tim because of any personal feelings or agendas. The Mayor and others on the Town Council received numerous complaints concerning Tim. The mayor did a thorough investigation, with hard evidence that would stand in a court of law if there was a suit for unlawful dismissal. Tim was on probation, so the Mayor went above and beyond what would normally be required to terminate an employee on probation. A special meeting was held with the Town Council and decision reached to go forward with the termination. It does not matter how well he may or may not have been doing, the fact is he did something he was not supposed to do in his position and the TOWN (Mayor and Council) decided to relieve him of his duties. The Mayor’s “Statement” is protecting Tim and the Town from embarrassment and ridicule. Kudos to the Mayor for the way in which he handled a very difficult situation!!
In Tim defense, YES! He is a very capable and qualified police officer. He performed outstanding while employed with the Covington County Sherriff’s Department. He did a great job as the Police Chief of Lockhart Alabama and was one of three finalists for the Police Chief position of Florala. In fact it was stated by one of Florala’s city council that of the three finalists, Tim shined during their “meet and greet” prior to final selection. Unfortunately, Tim allowed his personal life to overshadow his position and responsibility as Police Chief and it ultimately cost him his job. It sad to see such an outstanding law enforcement officer mar his career by making a selfish decision and act without weighing the consequences of his actions and how it would effect so many others around him.
Usually there is a lot more to the story of termination than the public will ever know or even want to know.I remember several years ago in Century’s police department there were some highly immoral and illegal things being done by a couple of the officers that involved young ladies.At that time i think Bennie Barnes was mayor and basically took the same action in letting two of the deputies go without explanation.Even when half the town showed up at a council meeting demanding to know why the deputies were let go Mayor Barnes refused to comment any further since doing so would have exposed several young innocent girls and their families to actions that were being taken against them by the officers.I will always be grateful to Bennie for protecting those young ladies identity and having to have dragged them through court that would have ended in both officers being dismissed anyway.The deputies later sued the town for Bennie dismising them without publically stating why. So the deputies benefitted from Bennie’s silence but in my eyes Bennie was the hero there. Sometimes we just don’t need to know the whys.There comes a time we have to trust our elected officials even when we do not understand the whys.We might not want to know or if we found out we might regret knowing the whole story.
ITA’S ALL A MESS
Welcome to Flomaton, AL….better watch what you say and think ’round here in these parts.
What happend? He stop the “wrong” person in Flomation? Just like the rest of this county, he who got the money is above the law!!
Can you say recall election???
Something to think about
I see a disturbing trend in the comments here. I guess the days of “I need to do things the way my boss would like them done” are completely gone and it is perfectly okay for everyone to serve their own selfish agenda. So basically, what we’re saying, is once you hire someone, it doesn’t matter how they act or what they do, you are forced to keep them in service as long as they get the ‘job’ done.
Guess this is how all our employees will be acting eventually: “Hey boss, since I had a good day yesterday and got a lot done, I’m not coming in to work today. I did the work you asked, but did it the way *I* felt like doing it. Sorry… you can stuff it. You’re a bad manager, your wife is ugly… but hey, I’m a good worker and got the job done, so you can’t fire me… hahahaha!!”
I need to remind everyone of the rules. Hearsay — repeating anything that might have been told you (rumors) — falls under rule #3 at the bottom. The mayor had an official statement, and that’s the official reason Mr. Hardage was terminated. That’s all that can be discussed here, because that is all that is currently fact.
well lets see, if you have any family members that may or maynot have been affected by the chief of police, this goes out to you: you never know how it feels until it hits home do you!!! well it hit home and what the mayor done was just and fair that is what I can say about the mayor, all you concerned citizens look deeper into the real reason he was fired and then post your comments!! don’t just pray for one pray for all!!
Escambia County is becoming notorious for its leaders and elected officials being thugs. It is sad when someone is hired to do a job and they do a great job but the mayor fires him because they have a difference of opinion on something. Differences of opinion is what makes the USA what it is and the reason this country is here in the first place. But today, you will get fired for the same persecution and reasons that our founding fathers established this nation on. People in this county have a huge problem with handling a little bit of power. The problem doesn’t stop in Flomaton, it is county wide. Soon crime will take over Flomaton just like it has taken over the rural parts of the county due to the lack of proactive law enforcement. It is not the Sheriff’s job or a chief’s job to kiss butt or play dirty politics. There are enough good people out there who would respect you more for doing your job and being hard on crime. You don’t have to do dirty deads to do a good job. You simply have to do what is right and what is right is something that officials in Escambia County are having a hard time doing.
Having worked as an employee for a municipality, let me make 2 observations: Probationary employees (at least 6 months, usually a year and in the case of Alabama school teachers 3 years) may be terminated without cause. Mayor Bounderant does not have to explain his reason. Secondly, everyone has a boss. The police chief works for the mayor. While “not seeing eye to eye” may not be a specific job requirement as mentioned by “concerned”, the police chief is responsible to support the mayor’s philosophy and administrative goals.
Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe the Mayor is looking out for Tim and the town’s best interest in saying that the reason he was terminated was because they didn’t see eye to eye. Could it possibly be that Tim was doing something that he shouldn’t have been doing? Maybe the Mayor has already ask Tim to stop doing what ever it was and since he didn’t heed the warning the Mayor terminated him to save the town from the embarrassment it was about to face.
I’d be looking into legal services on this call. Did it say IF THE MAYOR DOESN’T SEE EYE WITH YOU THAT YOU”D BE TERMINATED….AKA: FIRED???? This just doesn’t seem right and I would not stand by and take it. Seems like they need a new mayor….best of luck to you
I agree with concerned. I din’t know the mayor could fire someone just because he didn’t like them. Sound’s like abuse of power to me.
Tim is a great cop.
He’s not a politician or a diplomat.
Enough said.
the man just started on the job a few months ago. i think this seems kind of strange. for someone that lives in Flomaton the mayor needs to theink about the people and not just about himself.
We are very sorry to see this. Tim seemed to be doing a great job. I agree with “concerned” since when did “not seeing eye to eye” constitute termination. I thought job performance was the pre-requisite !!!!!
From all accounts Tim was doing a good job for Flomaton
I agree with concerned. So if everyone doesn’t agree with you Mr Boundant then they should fear for their jobs? That’s jacked up! I’ll pray for you, you are going to need it.
HUH??? Since when did “not seeing eye to eye” become a job requirement?