Cohutta Mayor fires entire police department in ongoing dispute

COHUTTA, Georgia (WDEF) – Just a week following a press conference where both sides said the Cohutta standoff had been resolved, the Mayor has dissolved the town’s police department.

A sign in the doorway said the city police department was disbanded as of this morning.

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office will take over law enforcement for the town.

Mayor Ron Schinnick told the Cohutta Times that this was his decision and that the city council was not involved.

He said he took the action because of complaints against the department.

But the controversy was over the Mayor’s wife, who was fired as a city clerk.

The complaints were that she was still working and had access to private files.

On April 30th, the Mayor and the Police Chief held a joint press conference to announce they had worked out their issues.

At that time, 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.”

Police Chief Greg Fowler 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.”

But now, the entire department has been let go.

The Mayor will face the community at the next city council meeting Tuesday night.