East Texas town loses another police chief
Posted/updated on: April 1, 2024 at 9:33 am
HAWKINS — Thursday during Hawkins’ city council meeting, the chief of police resigned. According to our news partner KETK, he is the second chief to resign in the span of two years. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the resignation of the municipal court judge and the two-week notices of the police chief and two officers. The city council approved the resignation of the Municipal Court Judge Kyle Waggner before going into executive session for 45 minutes.
When the council members came out, they said they would not accept Chief of Police Guy McKee’s nor the two officers’ resignations because they are “at will employees,” allowing them to resign without requiring the board’s approval.
At this point the council appointed Eric Tuma to be the interim chief of police, who was the interim chief in 2022 when the previous chief resigned. The council also appointed Debbie Rushing as mayor until May 2024. Hawkins, with a population less than 2,000 people, will be left with a police force of five officers.
