Spur leaders fire police chief in no-confidence vote
The city of Spur has released a statement about the firing of Chief Billy R. Spears from his post, which came after a 4-2 no-confidence vote from the city council late last month.
A news release from the city, released on Thursday, states that at the June 29 City Council meeting, the City Council had on the agenda and a vote was taken on a resolution to dismiss the Chief of Police for a lack of confidence under Texas Local Government Code Section 22.077(b). The vote ended in four members of the City Council voting in favor of the resolution with two members voting against the resolution.
Spears had served as Spur's police chief since September 2021.
"After the vote was taken, the Mayor asked the City Attorney what that meant, and the City Attorney incorrectly stated that the motion did not pass believing that the statute required an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the governing body," the statement continued. "However, the plain language of the statute requires 'two-thirds of the elected aldermen vote in favor of the resolution' as opposed to two-thirds of the entire governing body."
"In this case, that would mean the resolution needed four votes for the resolution to be effective and that requirement was met. As such, based on the plain language of the applicable statute, the Chief of Police was removed from his office at the June 29th City Council meeting."
The statement from the city cites Texas Local Government Code § 22.077(b, which states, "[i)f the governing body lacks confidence in a municipal officer appointed by the governing body, the governing body may remove the officer at any time. The removal is effective only if two-thirds of the elected aldermen vote in favor of a resolution declaring the lack of confidence."
The Texas Spur reported that Mayor Louise Jones said leaders could not disclose further details about the reasons for the no-confidence vote. Spears told the Spur he enjoyed his tenure as Spurs' police chief and was sad the council felt the need to remove him.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Spur leaders fire police chief in no-confidence vote
