By Roger Allen

 

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 23rd, 2006, Mayor Wayne Tipton and the full Bloomingdale City Council met in a public to listen to the facts and then render a final decision concerning the pending disciplinary action against Lieutenant Marta Street of the Bloomingdale Police Department. Marta Street was present, along with her lawyer, Steve Scheer. When the meeting began, Mr. Scheer tried to get the meeting postponed, as Ms. Street’s other lawyer (Dale Akins, an EEOC complaint specialist) was not able to attend.

City Council member Billy Strozier spoke out. He explained to those assembled that the special investigative team of City Council members had attempted to meet with Marta several times. She failed to show up for the first meeting, he said, and had showed up 2 1/2 hours late for the second. He also stated for the record that none of the evidence that either Mr. Scheer or Ms. Street had presented in her defense had disproved the charge that she had mishandled evidence. Mayor Tipton and Council retired into Executive Session to deliberate.

When they returned Mayor Tipton spoke out at this time saying that this was one of the most difficult things he had had to do, but their hands were tied. The Bloomingdale City Council then voted on the matter, with 5 members of Council voting in favor, with one Council member (Margel Winn) opposing the motion. Ms. Street’s employment was to be terminated because of her mishandling of evidence as proven by the investigation. At this time, several members of the public in attendance spoke in Ms. Street’s favor. Mayor Tipton then called the meeting to a close.

Later, Mayor Tipton shared that this entire affair had begun during the previous (Rozier) administration and that he had hoped it would be settled before he assumed office. He explained that a Police Officer is held to the very highest standards: there has to be a “Zero Tolerance” approach when dealing with guns, money, and drugs. Every client’s defense attorney (from past actions as well as those in the future) would question that officer’s testimony as a witness. That, he said, could lead to lawsuits against the city. As such, the best interests of Bloomingdale’s citizens required that the Council end this matter the way they did. It was, he said, a sad day for everyone involved.