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NSBNews.Net photo by Henry Frederick / Oak Hill Police Chief Diane Young remains at the center of controversy with Vice Mayor Mary Lee Cook continuing to question the veracity of the city's top cop.OAK HILL -- Vice Mayor Mary Lee Cook announced at tonight's city commission meeting that she is no longer pursuing her complaint with the city personnel board alleging embattled Police Chief Diane Young called her a "liar".
"I consider the matter closed," Cook said during the Monday meeting, adding she felt it was ludicrous to ask eight fellow citizens to go before the personnel board and have to justify what they heard.
The vice mayor pointed out that both she and Mayor Darla Lauer received a letter from a private attorney retained by Young to stop or "back off" as Cook put it.
Young, who stood in the back of the meeting room at Oak Hill City Hall, did not comment, except to shake her head from side to side. In another related police matter, City Clerk Laura Goodearly informed the commission that suspended officer Michael Ihnken, who has been on unpaid administrative leave since last month is now using sick days for which he is being paid because of personal illness, which he is entitled to.
However, City Attorney Scott Simpson advised the board that Ihnken, whose paid administrative leave dating back to last year, is no longer considered a police officer, though he remains a city employee.
The mayor asked if the city can fill his position by hiring someone else and Simpson said that is the commission's right. Simpson also made it clear that whether the rehires Ihnken as a police officer, an internal affairs investigation must be done as required by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
hnken has been the subject of two consecutive State Attorney investigations that found probable cause existed that he committed wrongdoing, but that a criminal prosecution must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
The problem is this: Young can't dothe IA investigation because Ihnken accused her in the second State Attorney investigation of extortion.
That means, she, too, must undergo an IA investigation in the department, but the commission has yet to address that.
Young told the commission at Monday's meeting that she reached out to Volusia County's law enforcement community fore assistance, but sio far has no takers.
The police chief tried to have Ihnken fired last month for failing to keep his firearms training certification active. That forced the police force to rely on the Volusia County Sheriff's Office for a day last spring so she and the department's seven full-time officers could be re-certified.
The commission voted 3-2 against that and the mayor asked Young to resign, citing lack of leadership, in relying on Ihnken for training after she initially demoted him from sergeant.
Young, who has been chief for a little more than a year, refused the demand to quit. At a subsequent meeting, Lauer and Cook sought to have Young demoted to her original post of code enforcement officer, but that request was rejected by commissioners Linda Hyatt, Kathy Bittle and Ron Engle.
Cook was livid that Young had brought on board a reserve officer in late 2009, even as she knew he had failed a drug test, but didn't let the commissioners know about it.
That officer, Brandy Sutherlin, eventually passed the drug test and was hired full time. He resigned less than six months later after being involved in a high speed chase on Interstate 95 with a motorist who clipped his car. Sutherlin was not on duty and his wife was behind the wheel with three small kids in the back seat while chasing after the other vehicle at speeds of 100 mph.
At the same meeting, in which the commission voted against demotion Cook had wanted a letter of reprimand placed in Young's file regarding the alleged lying incident, but the commission opted to send the complaint to the personnel board.