Mayor, police chief speak on resolution to Cohutta dispute

Cohutta Police Chief Greg Fowler giving a statement as Mayor Ron Shinnick watches.

COHUTTA, Ga. (WDEF)- Has the controversial situation surrounding the small Whitfield County community of Cohutta been resolved?

The town’s leaders are saying yes.

Allegations had surfaced through an official complaint that Cohutta mayor Ron Shinnick’s wife, Pam Shinnick, was continuing to work as the town’s clerk after being fired earlier this year.

Cohutta mayor Ron Shinnick along with the town’s police chief Greg Fowler held a press conference to announce that a resolution, led by town attorney Bryan Rayburn, had been reached.

The mayor said while the situation had been unfortunate, he believes that the community has come together to resolve a difficult situation.

Mayor Shinnick said, “We’re a great community that comes together when there’s a hard time and there’s issues that need to be addressed.”

Chief Fowler said in his statement that his main concerns were transparency and making sure the town was being run professionally.

The police chief said, “Through open dialogue and good faith mediation, we were able to come together, resolved concerns and reaffirm our shared commitment to serving the citizens of Cohutta with integrity and respect.”

While the mayor did not comment specifically about the role of his wife in recent months, Attorney Rayburn clarified why Pam Shinnick had been allowed to continue town work following her firing at a town council meeting in January as the town’s clerk.

Concerns that several Cohutta police officers and other town employees had raised included missed paychecks and a potential breach of sensitive data.

Rayburn said that the town was immediately thrown into a difficult situation upon Pam Shinnick’s firing.

The attorney said, “We were between and a rock and a hard place. We had on one hand the town clerk being dismissed from her position. On the other hand we still had town business that had to be conducted. That means paying bills, making sure payroll gets paid, and one of the issues that we ran into in January is that when she was dismissed from her position, for two weeks we didn’t have anyone who could handle payroll.”

He says that Shinnick was brought back on a limited basis with supervision, which sparked the complaints.

Rayburn says as part of the resolution, “So moving forward, our resolution was that she would immediately cease her limited role in fulfilling those town duties.”

The attorney says that now a part time employee is doing that work as ultimately an outside company will take over payroll.

Cohutta Police officers like Lt. Ryan Fowler, who was one of several who sent that official complaint, say they believe the town will move forward.

Lt. Fowler said, “We believe that with the right personnel getting interviewed and getting into position once they get it figured out over there, Cohutta will be where it should be.”

The next town council meeting will be May 12 at Cohutta Town Hall.