Van City Council terminates city manager after police chief fired

VAN – The city manager of Van was terminated at a city council meeting on Thursday night. The Van City Council met to discuss the status of former Police Chief Melissa Davis after she was fired July 1 by the City Manager John Desha. The Texas Municipal Police Association told our news partners at KETK News, Davis was fired for not wanting to fine property owners who were victims of graffiti. In Thursday’s meeting, several other key city positions such as the city manager, city secretary, public works director, fire marshal and fire chief were also discussed in executive session. Before the closed-door meeting, council members voted unanimously to change current policy, effective immediately, that if a city manager wanted to terminate a department head, they would need to bring the recommendation to the council and councilmembers would approve or deny.

The council went into executive session at 7:50 p.m. to discuss the personnel matters.

The council reconvened from executive session at 11:10 p.m. and councilmember Charles Ryan made a motion to terminate City Manager Desha effective immediately.

The vote was passed 3-2.
Van chief of police fired, mayor says

Before the termination vote, a council member made a motion to allow the council to hire department heads. It was voted down 2-3.

Residents stood shocked and confused that Davis’ position was not mentioned.

The now former city manager left after the vote and Van Mayor Tammy Huff told KETK news that she would not comment on the matter.

In next meeting, the council will vote on another policy amendment that could allow an employee to have five business days to appeal their termination to the council.