First sign of peace in Pocomoke turmoil
City officials said Pocomoke City showed the first signs of mending Monday night at the city council meeting after over one month of turmoil since former Police Chief Kelvin Sewell was controversially fired.
During the meeting, the community group Citizens For A Better Pocomoke decided to pull back its petition pushing for Mayor Bruce Morrison to resign. Morrison apologized for letting his temper flare during the last meeting and for not allowing the media in.
Both sides of the community, whether they agree or disagree with Sewell’s firing, said they believe Pocomoke’s reputation as the friendliest city on the shore has been tarnished. After the meeting though, 47 ABC was able to speak with Councilwoman Diane Downing as to the racial climate of the city and some of the problems circulating around Sewell’s firing.
“In my eyes there is a little bit of a racial problem here from my perspective,” Downing said.
Downing also said the racial problems in Pocomoke extend to some of the council members. Morrison however, disagrees.
“I don’t feel it’s a race problem in Pocomoke and I talked to a lot of people on both sides and they agree,” Morrison said.
In regards to Sewell’s firing, Downing said that the council acted outside of the city charter. Downing said although the charter says that only the city manager can hire and fire the chief of police, the mayor and council instead decided to vote Sewell out on June 29th. In the July 13th meeting, the City Attorney Bill Hudson maintained that the council voted Sewell out legally, because at that time former City Manager Russell Blake was already out of office. Downing, however, said that was a lie and that Blake was still in office when the vote happened.
Downing said she also believes her fellow council members are actively trying to remove her from office because she has been outspoken that she did not agree with Sewell’s firing.
*** Update***
New information obtained by 47 ABC shows the June 29 firing of Pocomoke City Police Chief Kelvin Sewell was legal, disputing the claim made by councilmember Diane Downing that it was not.
In an August 3 interview with 47 ABC, Downing said that the vote to remove Sewell was a violation of the charter because the charter states only the city manager has power to fire the chief of police. Downing said that because former city manager Russell Blake was allegedly still in office on the day of the vote, the power to fire Sewell should have been his. However according to a memo that was sent by Blake to both the mayor and city council, Blake had officially retired days before the vote occurred.
The memo addressed June 26, 2015 reads, “I will be formally and officially retired from the position of City Manager as of 3:00 p.m. on this date.”
During the July 13 city council meeting, City Attorney Bill Hudson maintained the vote was legal, citing that Blake had already finished his term at the time of the vote therefore allowing the council to vote on personnel matters.
Despite the new evidence, Councilmember Downing still says she never received this memo, nor knew of its existence.
