Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct statements regarding executive session.
Taft City Hall exceeded maximum occupancy as citizens gathered in support of Police Chief John Landreth during Thursday’s special meeting, which addressed the potential termination of his employment.
With only council members Chris Keeney, Alonzo Molina, and Rolando Rodriguez present, the meeting began with an hour-long executive session related to a lawsuit filed by Landreth.
Following that executive session, a second item related to Landreth's employment was discussed in public, per his request.
When the council returned to open session, Molina and Keeney questioned Landreth, many inquiries focusing on the ongoing investigation intoLeeAnn Goben and the alleged misuse of city credit cards for personal expenses totaling over $30,000 from June through September.However, the majority of questions pertained to Landreth’s past interactions with the council.
Landreth was placed on leave without pay in May after he reported possible criminal violations by the city secretary.He first reported the violations to city officials, including then-City Manager Kandi Hubert, but after nothing was done, he reached out to 6 Investigates.
Several times, those in attendance voiced disagreement with the council’s actions. When Keeney asked if “the City Council had always supported you (Landreth),” the audience responded collectively with a resounding “No.”
“This is not the time or place for that. The time for that was in citizen comments. You knew what the issue was about. If you had something to say, you should’ve said it then,” Keeney told those speaking out.
During the session, Molina accused Landreth of being “friends” with former city manager Kandi Hubert. Landreth responded, “I brought her in here and introduced you. Y’all hired me. Y’all did. I was smart enough to know.” He continued, “Y’all keep saying she’s my friend. Now that all this water is going under the bridge, you really think we were friends? I don’t do friends. I don’t do that. She’s not my friend. She’s never been to my house; I’ve never been to her house.”
After about 30 minutes, Keeney moved to terminate Landreth’s employment. Despite the audience's protests, Keeney called for a second to the motion, but neither Molina nor Rodriguez responded. With no second, the motion failed, and Landreth retained his position.
“This turnout means more than anything. It means more than me keeping my job,” Landreth told 6 Investigates after the meeting. “The fact I’ve got the community support I have, the fact that this many people showed up—they showed up and got involved, and I appreciate that.”
I'm just going to take it day by day. I mean, it's sad that it's come out this way. It's sad that it's this craziness inside the city of town. It's sad that I'm on the agenda. And the fact that we're having financial issues isn't. We've got bigger problems than the chief of police, so we need to get a handle on our finances. And we're sending back vehicles we can't pay for even though we gave the company our word that we were going to pay for the vehicles, and now we can't. We got to get Taft where Taft means something. And when we say we're going to do something, we do it. And that's what these citizens want. They want correct water bills. You know, they they want to be listened to and heard. And I don't think we're doing that 100% right now.
Landreth informed 6 Investigates that despite the potential termination, Thursday's meeting has not affected the progression of the department's investigation.
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