Roanoke Rapids police

Pictured are now acting Police Chief Capt. Gorton Williams, left, Capt. Jamie Hardy and Chief Bobby Martin.

 Richard Holm | The Herald

ROANOKE RAPIDS — Chief Bobby Martin and Capt. Jamie Hardy of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department were placed on unpaid administrative leave Friday.

“The City of Roanoke Rapids placed Chief Martin and Captain Hardy on administrative leave as of Friday, March 10,” City Attorney Geoffrey Davis said Saturday night. “Captain Gorton Williams has been appointed acting chief for the time being. Pursuant to employee privacy rights, the City has no further comment at this time.”

For clarification, interim is an appointment to a vacant position, while acting is serving in the absence of the actual position holder.

Davis said he can confirm that there are no lawsuits regarding the police department.

“NCGS 160A-168 enumerates which pieces of information relating to employees are public record, and ‘the reasons why an employee is placed on leave’ is not among them. Therefore, it’s protected personnel information and the City cannot legally release it,” he said.

City Manager Kelly Traynham echoed the city attorney’s previous statement.

The Herald reached out to Mayor Emery Doughtie Monday morning regarding the recent actions. Doughtie said he was not made aware until he received an email about the incident. When asked who made the decision, the mayor said the city manager is the only person who can make that decision.

“Nobody on the council has that authority,” Doughtie said. “I try to reiterate this a lot of times that the mayor in the city council hires the city manager and the city attorney. That’s the only two people that we have any say so about who is hired, fired, disciplined or whatever. That is the job of the city manager, the day-to-day activities of the city.”

Martin was named the Roanoke Rapids Police chief in August of 2019 by former city manager Joseph Scherer. Martin began working at RRPD in 2013 as an investigator and was later promoted to captain of criminal investigations.

The Roanoke Rapids City Council held a regular city meeting last week on March 7, where the only matters regarding the Roanoke Rapids Police Department were brought forth by Chief Martin. The chief requested approval for the city to adopt an ordinance allowing the purchase of another K-9 to add to the department’s other K-9 through the American Kennel Club’s Adopt A K-9 Cop Matching Grant for $7,500. Martin told the council that Capt. Jamie Hardy, with the assistance of Ventosa Kennel, secured the grant, and will not cost the city money due to the credit available at Ventosa.

Martin also said the department is moving more toward labradors for a more socially friendly approach, giving the ability to be taken to schools, churches and elsewhere for demonstrations. The council approved the request.

Later during that meeting, the council went into a closed session pertaining to legal matters.

City Attorney Davis said the closed session had nothing to do with the lead-up to Martin and Hardy’s leave.

With the public left in the dark on city matters pertaining to the sudden actions, the Herald asked Mayor Doughtie if there was anything that could be said to rebuild public confidence in the local government and handling of personnel matters.

“They’re personnel matters, and they are not things that will be discussed in public — anything that’s personnel, it’s a personnel matter,” he said. “At this time, that’s all that can be seen.”

When asked for more clarification on the unpaid leave, City Attorney Davis said, “The city’s personnel policy allows for unpaid, ‘non-disciplinary suspension,’ and that’s what this is. It gives the city manager an opportunity to review the situation before making a final decision. More to the point, the city, as a public employer, cannot reveal more information regarding the basis for this kind of personnel decision. NCGS 160A-168 specifically enumerates the kind of information a municipality can release regarding personnel, and the reasons for an administrative suspension is not among them. In situations where an employee is dismissed, i.e., a termination, the written notice of dismissal, which contains the reasons for said dismissal, is public record. (NCGS 160A-168(b)(11). But that’s not where we are right now. No one has been terminated, and Chief Martin and Capt. Hardy remain our employees for the time being.”