Lundy steps down from police commission

MOORESVILLE — A day before Mooresville’s newest council members were scheduled to take their oaths of office, now former Mooresville Police Commissioner Danny Lundy sent a scathing resignation letter to the former Mooresvile Town Council, citing his unwillingness to work under new councilmen Jeff Cook and Shane Williams.

For his part, Williams — who saw the letter for the first time Friday — disagreed with Lundy’s assessment, saying his successful election to the town council was a statement by the voters, describing it as “a change election that was a real change.”

“I’m not sure why it would be so shocking that change is coming,” Williams said by phone Friday.

In his letter, Lundy primarily pointed to what he saw as a hijacked hiring process for Mooresville’s new police chief, during which the commission hired an HR firm in order to have “the most fair, unbiased and professional hiring process this town has ever used, per the request of our officers,” he wrote in his Dec. 31 letter, “only to have Mr. Cook and Mr. Williams manipulate, countermand and undermine our efforts.”

According to Lundy’s letter, the attitudes and messages conveyed by the now councilmen at the commission’s November meeting “directly affected the integrity of our hiring process — before they even took office.”

At that meeting, both Cook and Williams pushed the commission to delay the hiring process until a new council was in place after the first of the year, with Cook pointing to “insider knowledge” about the timeline of the hire, leading Lundy to accuse him of “leveraging his longtime friendship with (commissioner) Fred Settle” to gain that knowledge and use it “to influence the process.”

At that November meeting, Cook also warned commissioners that if they were to proceed with the hire before the new council members were in place, commissioners needed to let the new chief know he “could be a regular patrolman Jan. 1, versus a police chief.”

On the heels of that meeting, Lundy said that one candidate withdrew from the process, complaining the process was “rigged.” Another top candidate took a job elsewhere.

“What qualified person in their right mind would take a chance on Mooresville with such hostility being thrown towards an as-yet unnamed candidate?” Lundy wrote in his letter.

He labeled their actions “ignorant and incompetent” at best, and at worst, “a flagrant display of corrupt cronyism.”

“Either way, I cannot work under such conditions,” Lundy wrote. “And I shudder to think of the challenges Mooresville will face at the hands of these two, should they continue to govern in the same manner.”

At its Dec. 19 meeting, the Mooresville Police Commission wound up naming Lt. Kevin Julian, who’s been serving as interim chief since the summer, as its recommendation, and Lundy took time in his letter to laud Julian and his qualifications.

“He earned the spot at the top of our candidate list. He is capable, qualified and experienced,” Lundy wrote, adding that Julian “will do a fine job for the Mooresville Police Department.”

For Lundy, the issue is “the intentional, brazen and ultimately successful attempt by two not-yet-serving town council members to be in control of a process specifically meant to be unbiased and free from the kind of good old boy system our citizens have resoundingly been speaking out against.”

He closed his resignation letter by thanking the town council for the opportunity to serve the town and for letting the hiring process “run its course without interference.”

Lundy said plenty of work remained to be done in the town, but he was unwilling to “waste my time, talent and energy in a fruitless and never-ending battle against a town council clearly bent on micromanaging and controlling everything in town.”

For Williams, the events that unfolded at the November commission meeting were all part of the change he promised, and his push to delay the vote for police chief until a new council is in place is what voters wanted.

“I stand by what I said. I think the public was tired of this council making decisions,” Williams said, adding that “somebody that would (make such an important decision in a lame duck session) kind of thumbs the eye of the voter, in my view.”

He acknowledged that if candidates left because of what transpired at the November meeting, “I guess that’s not the best scenario,” but he also felt the HR company made promises that weren’t ultimately delivered, including a much shorter list of candidates than anticipated, among other things.

“I think there were a lot of issues going on with that situation,” he said, labeling the HR firm’s process “expensive” and “time-consuming.”

Williams campaigned heavily on open government — and change, saying that residents “are sick of people in government who don’t listen to them.”

He knows there’s a learning curve ahead, but he’s optimistic about the future of Mooresville, despite Lundy’s resignation, as well as the announcement from several members of the town’s redevelopment commission who said they don’t plan to seek reappointment.

“I expect a rough transition,” he said. “I’m going to be green. I’m going to fumble around. … But I think you’ll see some positive changes coming soon.”

Efforts to reach Cook by phone were unsuccessful.

~ By Stephen Crane | Editor | Published January 3, 2020 in The Mooresville Times