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Austell police chief working from home until retirement
The city of Austell said Chief Bob Starrett is working from home on special projects for the department. They said he plans to retire next year.
AUSTELL, Ga. - The city of Austell is now paying two different people to be their chief of police.
One, Chief Bob Starrett, no longer comes to the office and is working from home on what is called special projects. Starrett is slated to retire early next year, according to the Austell Mayor.
Acting on a tip FOX 5 Senior I-Team Reporter Dale Russell found it wasn't that easy to find out what the city was doing.
Last year, Austell Police Chief Bob Starrett was front and center at a community meeting when Cobb County residents discussed relationships between police and the public. But when we tried to ask him why he wasn't coming to the office, he was nowhere to be found.
The FOX 5 I-Team went by the police headquarters, but he wasn't at work. He wasn't at work. We left a phone number and he never called back.
The I-Team knew Chief Starrett was still around because they saw Chief Starrett in uniform at the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission meeting. He is one of the politically-appointed commissioners who helped select the companies that will be licensed by the state to sell medical marijuana. That selection process has generated controversy at the Georgia legislature over bid scoring, the secrecy, and the potential politics in the bid process.
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State Legislator Alan Powell wants to reboot the entire bid process.
"I take it for granted that the ones who did the judging were the commissioners. (They were) And I would have loved if they had brought in a third-party consultant. (They didn't) Well, a mistake," said Powell.
So, he was working in his appointed position on the medical marijuana commission, but why was Bob Starrett not coming to work as the Austell police chief?
The I-Team filed an Open Records Request asking if Chief Starrett still worked for the city or if he was on some kind of leave? The Austell city clerk wrote a rather vague email in response:
"Chief Starrett is still employed with the city of Austell. Chief Starrett is currently not on leave and hasn’t received any payments other than his bi-weekly paycheck."
Well, that didn't tell us much. If he is not on leave and not at the office, where is he? After all, go to the Austell Official Web page and he is still listed as police chief.
"That certainly seems, what's going on here," asked Jessica Cino, a legal ethicist at Krevolin & Horst law firm.
Cino said whatever is going on, the city of Austell isn't openly sharing with the press or the public what the chief is doing or why he is no longer coming into the office.
"None of that has been shared with the community, and they really seem to be keeping a tight lid on it," said Cino.
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Austell City Council Board minutes in October showed Chief Starrett was there to give a report. But look closer. It also shows Deputy Police Chief Natalie Poulk attended the meeting. But it described her as Police Chief.
Two chiefs? And one doesn't seem to come into the office to work? What is going on?
"This is a very public position. It is a position the embodies public trust, and I would think the city would very much want to let its citizens know what is going on so they don't look like they're trying to cover something up," said Cino.
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So, we filed another Open Records request. This time, asking for Natalie Poulk's personnel file and information on the Chief's city-issued car. Turns out on September 27th, Natalie Poulk was promoted from Deputy Police Chief to the interim police chief. And given a $10,000 raise. And we were finally told where to find Chief Starrett:
"Chief Starrett is working from home at this time & does not have a city vehicle issued to him."
The FOX 5 I-Team went by Chief Starrett's home to talk to him, but no one came to the door.
The I-Team asked Mayor Ollie Clemons to explain. He refused to talk to us on camera, but over the phone, he said the chief was planning to retire early next year and he is now "working from home" updating the department's "Standard Operating Procedure."
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Chief Starrett has been working from home since the beginning of October. Chief Starrett is still making his full salary of some $9089 a month.
Jessica Cino said it looks simply like a severance package.
"It's an erosion of public trust. What are the city officials doing, these are taxpayer's dollars, and why isn't our police chief doing his job," said Cino.
The chief wrote FOX 5 to say he is not available this week and would be happy to meet at a later time.
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