The town deserves an answer

Editorial

The town deserves an answer

The forced resignation of Murphy police chief Mark Thigpen has raised the specter of elected officials feeling they are above the law.
On Aug. 2, Thigpen was told he would be asked to resign the next day or be fired at the Murphy Town Council’s Police Committee meeting – a meeting that was not advertised or made public beforehand. He chose to take the high road and not fight city hall.
When the Cherokee Scout began inquiring about the resignation, town police committee members refused to comment, calling it a “personnel issue.”
Members of the public also were brushed off when they questioned why Thigpen was forced to resign, despite a lengthy list of accomplishments.
During Monday’s regular council meeting, local business owner Marie Spiegel asked why Thigpen was forced to resign. Shockingly, council member Sandra Sumpter told her, “It’s city business, why do you want to know?”
Any elected official who truly feels this way does not deserve to hold office. We shouldn’t have to say why we want to know because we are the town. The council is not above us or the law.
Members of the council are public servants and work for taxpayers, not the other way around. And when a prominent town employee is forced out of a job, the public deserves an answer.
Even if the council is legally within its rights by claiming it’s a “personnel issue,” ethics and integrity demand an explanation. The public is waiting.