Former New Bloomfield police chief says he was asked to resign after talking to media
UPDATE 8:24 P.M.: The New Bloomfield mayor didn’t talk about the city’s budget like he said he would last month when ABC 17 covered the previous city hall meeting.
When asked about the reasoning behind Chief Mooney’s resignation involving an interview he did with ABC 17, the mayor and another council member said it’s personal and they couldn’t discuss it.
The superintendent and the city clerk were not at today’s meeting.
According to Rosemary Augustine, a city council member and relative of the superintendent, the city clerk was out sick. According to the mayor, the superintendent was working on a job.
ABC 17 spoke to a few residents about what’s next for them, and they said having the city council audited and creating a petition were the next steps.
“If I can’t get answers that I am looking for on the budgets and some of the other documentations that I am asking for, I am going to petition for an audit, a state audit, and all I need is 100 signatures. I think I can get them,” said resident Cheri Wilson.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Callaway County Sheriff’s Office will be patrolling the area of New Bloomfield, after the resignation of Police Chief Greg Mooney.
Last month, a roomful of New Bloomfield residents asked many questions regarding the safety of their community. During that hearing, Mayor Greg Rehagen said the city’s budget was the top concern, but he also said the matter would be discussed at the March 8 city hall meeting.
During last month’s city hall meeting, residents asked questions and voiced their opinions and concerns regarding the city losing one sergeant, which left them with only one officer, Greg Mooney.
On Feb. 28, however, Mooney said he was asked to resign after he had talked to ABC 17 after our coverage at the last city’s meeting.
“During my time with New Bloomfield Police Department, my focus was always the citizens I swore to serve and protect. I cared about the citizens to the point of butting heads with the mayor and city council. I enlightened the citizens with public information on the city’s Facebook page after the city council started cutting positions, hours and talking about disbanding the police department.
Unfortunately for the citizens, this upset the mayor and members of the city council. If I had asked for permission to post that information or talk with the media, it would have been denied. So I did what was best for the citizens and let them know what the city was doing. This led to my departure from the city.
I will always be grateful for the support the community has shown through all of this. “
“After the city council meeting, when you (ABC 17 Reporter Sasha Gómez) interviewed the mayor, and then went into the police department office with me and interviewed me, because I did not get permission to do that, I violated the media policy,” Mooney said.
ABC 17 asked for the city’s media policy, and we were told once again to send a “sunshine request.”
According to the mayor, they will talk about the city’s budget Thursday and why they had to look into their law enforcement officials to do that.
For New Bloomfield’s budgets by year, click below:
ABC 17 will update this story after Thursday’s city hall meeting at 6:00 p.m.
