Questions but few answers surfaced Friday afternoon during a called city council meeting in Demorest. City leaders held an emergency meeting to address internal personnel matters within the police department. The mayor, police chief, assistant chief, city attorney, and council members attended.
After convening, the council quickly went into executive session to discuss personnel and potential litigation.
City officials did not discuss details but spoke publicly in terms of an “investigation.” After nearly an hour in executive session, the council reemerged and unanimously voted to authorize an investigation into the police department regarding “internal personnel complaints.”
In an open conversation following the meeting, Demorest Police Chief Casey Chastain stressed to City Manager Mark Musselwhite that he, Chastain, had requested the investigation. Musselwhite advised Chastain against making any further public comments and directed him to the city attorney.
Musselwhite made clear to the media present that officials would not comment publicly due to the nature of the matter.
“Folks, I will tell you there will be no comment because personnel, potential litigation, investigation ongoing. So I don’t expect y’all to be out of line. I do expect that if they come from Atlanta, it would be a whole different game with those folks. There is a lot of information, and it’s just got to go through its process,” Musselwhite said. He did not explain the reference to Atlanta.
Now Georgia will continue to monitor this developing story and provide updates as they become available.
