Circleville’s police chief and deputy chief have resigned from their positions and will receive payouts.
Circleville City Council voted to approve separation and release agreements for Chief Shawn Baer and Deputy Chief Doug Davis during a special meeting Wednesday night.
One council member, Zack Brooks, voted against the agreements, answering “absolutely not” during a roll call for Baer’s separation agreement.
The agreements state the city will stop its investigation into allegations of misconduct in exchange for Baer and Davis’ voluntary retirements. Baer will receive a payment of $70,000 and Davis will get $69,000.
Sgt. Kenny Fisher is the current acting police chief.
They also will be paid for unused vacation and personal leave time at their hourly rates. Baer was making $46.91 an hour. Davis made $45.37 per hour and had around 300 hours of unused vacation time.
Davis was briefly acting police chief after Baer was placed on paid leave, but Circleville Mayor Michelle Blanton also placed Davis on paid leave in March. Both faced allegations of misconduct.
The chiefs’ dismissals come amid other turmoil in the department and city.
The short-serving safety director Steven Wilkinson was fired just a week after he was hired in March. And last July, the city fired an officer for releasing a K-9 on a Black truck driver.
