Pawhuska police and city manager disagree

What began as a routine special meeting of the Pawhuska City Council on June 25 ended in a tense public confrontation between Acting City Manager Jerry Eubanks and several police department employees.

Three of the five council members were present at the meeting – Mayor Susan Bayro, Vice Mayor Rodger Milleson and District 1 Councilman Roger Taylor. District 3 Councilman Mark Buchanan and Councilman Steve Tolson were absent.

The City Council approved a special holiday event. It also gave final approval, without much comment, to a new comprehensive development plan for the city. Mayor Bayro noted that some changes she requested were incorporated into the plan.

The council also voted 3-0 to accept a bid of $147,895 from a Broken Arrow company for a major repair and improvement job on the sewer system. Eubanks explained that there was a lower bid, but there was an issue with that bidder’s credentials. In total, there were 10 bids ranging from $115,000 to $424,000, Eubanks said.

The council concluded its business in less than ten minutes, but as Bayro thanked the audience for their attendance and prepared to leave, a question came from a member of a group of police officers in the back of the community center meeting room, wondering if they wanted to speak on other topics.

The council did not extend its meeting to hear questions, and Eubanks intervened directly with the police officers, telling them to contact him. Some of the officers made comments that suggested a lack of confidence in Eubanks.

“Chief, would you please take your officers and leave the building so that this does not become a crime scene?” Eubanks once said to Police Chief Lorrie Hennesy. Eubanks phrased his words in the form of a question, but gave them the intensity of an order.

“You and I will have that discussion,” Eubanks continued.

“Are we going to do that? Are we really going to do that?” Hennesy said.

“Yes, ma’am, we will have that discussion in the morning,” Eubanks said. He continued to complain about an assault. Hennesy denied that she and other officers had that intention.

Voices were raised, videos were shot and later posted online, the situation was an unfortunate outburst. Given that the City Council on June 20 passed a city budget for 2024-25 that was designed in part to save city employees’ jobs, the conflict may have come as a surprise to residents.

The version of the new budget that the council adopted on June 20 included two and a half police department positions that had previously been recommended for cuts. Eubanks reminded officials at the June 25 meeting that jobs had been saved.

Another component of the new budget was apparently the decision to restrict the use of municipal vehicles as private transportation for employees.

On Monday morning, June 24, Eubanks sent an email to 10 city employees saying that starting July 1, no employee who lives more than 10 miles from Pawhuska would be allowed to drive home in a city vehicle at the end of their shift. The only exception Eubanks cited in that email was the police chief. In the email, Eubanks also told employees that the day a new policy on purchasing fuel for city vehicles would go into effect was fast approaching. All old fuel cards would be turned off starting Friday, June 28, Eubanks said in the message. He provided a copy of the email message to the Pawhuska Journal-Capital.

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