OILTON, Okla. — The small Creek County city of Oilton has ousted and replaced yet another chief of police, this time for cause, after a 75-minute-long executive session in an Oct. 14 city council meeting.
Feuds from past months involving Oilton mayor Pat Kennedy, city councilors, and the town's chief of police continued in October's lone council session.
WATCH: ANOTHER ONE: Oilton fires police chief with cause
- Previous coverage>>> After arguments, Oilton council keeps police chief despite mayor's effort
Two weeks before, the city indefinitely suspended Chief John Hefley, who was only hired in May.
The announcement on Facebook in which comments were disabled came after a heated August meeting ended with no action on the chief.
"I don't understand it," longtime Oilton resident Melissa Dennis told 2 News. "They're saying something happened. I don't know if he did something wrong or not. They're not telling anybody."
Before arriving at the key item, another unexpected disruption stole the spotlight after Councilor Brian Barton called out Mayor Kennedy over mispronouncing a word on the agenda, apparently accusing him of mocking another councilor.
Barton later said it was a misunderstanding and that he believes the mayor was not nefarious in his remarks.
After over an hour in executive session, the council voted to fire Chief Hefley with cause.
"I still believe he's a good man," Councilor Barton said after the vote to oust Hefley. "I don't know if the accusations are true or not. I know that I know I'm not allowed to talk about them. What we had to do is unfortunate, but I really hope that he can have success somewhere else."
- More previous coverage>>> Oilton gets police chief after a month with no patrol officers
No further details on the reasoning for the firing were made public.
After the termination vote, acting police chief Chris Kirkpatrick was promoted to full-time police chief by the council, marking at least seven full-time police chiefs for Oilton in the past six years.
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