Georgia town reinstates police force days after mayor fired entire department

A small Georgia town’s police force was reinstated Friday after the mayor fired every officer just days earlier, drawing backlash and prompting action by the town council.

During a special meeting, the Cohutta Town Council voted to reinstate the officers immediately and provide back pay, the town’s vice mayor told The Associated Press.

The council also passed a separate measure preventing the mayor from firing the officers for the next 30 days, but tabled the rest of the agenda, including a proposal to remove Mayor Ron Shinnick.

The move comes after Shinnick shut down the Cohutta Police Department on Wednesday, laying off all 10 employees and leaving the roughly 1,000-person community without a police force.

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The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies would assist the town, which is located just south of the Tennessee line and about 100 miles northwest of Atlanta.

A sign posted on the department’s door earlier this week read, "The PD has been dissolved, and all personnel have been terminated."
While the exact reasons for the firings have not been publicly disclosed, the shutdown appears tied to a dispute last month after officers filed formal complaints against former town clerk Pam Shinnick, the mayor’s wife.

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Pam Shinnick was fired from her position for allegedly creating a "hostile work environment." Officers alleged in their complaints that she continued working and had access to residents’ personal information despite her termination.

Following the complaints, Shinnick, Police Chief Greg Fowler and town attorney Bryan Rayburn said during a press conference that the situation had been resolved through "open dialogue and good-faith mediation."
But just one week later, the entire department was dissolved.

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"This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor, and I wholeheartedly believe that," former Sgt.

Jeremy May told WRCB-TV.

"We took a stand for transparency, and in result, every one of them has lost their jobs."
According to Vice Mayor Shane Kornberg, the town’s attorney told the council the firings did not follow the town charter, which requires 30 days’ notice before employees can be removed or suspended.

Kornberg said the council went into executive session to discuss potential litigation and emerged without the mayor, who did not return to the meeting.

The council then voted to reinstate the police force.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital's Brittany Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.