By Malcolm Butler
Doug Postel has had quite a week.
The Lincoln Parish Police Jury Administrator found himself being asked to resign from his post a week ago during a meeting with LPPJ juror Skip Russell that was also attended by personnel officer Latonya Lacey.
Postel said yesterday that the entire meeting was a surprise.
“(Skip) said that he thought I was a fine young man and appreciates all I’ve done at the LPPJ, but my time at the police jury had come to an end,” said Postel. “He had eight votes locked up to end my time here. If I would tender my resignation, they would keep me on the payroll as an advisor through the end of the year, but if I fought it, they had at least 20 accusations against me for wrongdoing and that all of that would come to light at the public meeting on Sept. 13.
“It would be ugly and nobody wanted to go through all that, and it would be in my best interest to just resign. Of course I asked about the nature of the accusations, and I was told that those were not going to be revealed to me. That was the content of the meeting.”
Russell was contacted last night for his response after a letter signed by jurors Logan Hunt, TJ Cranford, Matt Pullin and Glenn Scriber was sent to every policy jury member along with Postel on Monday and then circulated to media outlets yesterday.
“I went to him and asked him would you consider just resigning and moving on,” said Russell during a phone conversation Wednesday night. “(Doug) said he’d have to let me know. Then he got these other four jurors involved and they concocted this whole bunch of stories that didn’t turn out to be true.”
So where does the truth lie? On the surface – and even below – the situation seems muddy at best.
“The only thing I have done relative to this situation was I went to see Doug,” said Russell. “I said, ‘Doug, a majority of the members of the policy jury have made the decision that it’s time to go in a different direction.’ And that is what we talked about. And he said I’m going to let you know, but he never has.”
“I have no intention of resigning,” said Postel.
Russell said he did not have the documentation of the allegations he mentioned in his meeting with Postel.
“I don’t know who did a head count – it wasn’t me,” said Russell. “Who got the material together? It wasn’t me. My knowledge came from jury members who called me and individuals out in the community who called to tell me about things that have been going on. That’s where I got my info from. I personally was not involved in gathering material.”
It would take seven members of the 12-member police jury to vote Postel out.
The Lincoln Parish Journal reached out to all 12 of the police jury members on Wednesday in order to ask questions about the meeting and their feelings on the situation. The LPJ was able to reach Russell, Hunt, Pullin, Cranford, Scriber, Annette Straughter, Joe Henderson, Sharyon Mayfield and Teresa Wyatt (via text).
The LPPJ was unsuccessful in reaching President Richard Durrett, Vice President Milton Melton and juror Hazel Hunter. Voicemails and text messages were sent.
Wyatt declined any comment on the situation. Hunt, Pullin, Cranford, Scriber, Straughter, Henderson and Mayfield all confirmed they had no idea the meeting between Russell and Postel was taking place prior to it happening.
Hunt, Pullin, Cranford, Scriber, Straughter, and Mayfield all said at no time had they ever communicated to Russell, Durrett or Melton that they felt Postel should be asked to resign. Henderson declined to comment on the question.
Postel’s contract runs out at the end of December in which time the LPPJ would vote whether to hire him back for another year.
The timing of the request for his resignation also seems odd in the midst of the on-going ambulance-rescue concerns facing the parish starting in January.
The next LPPJ meeting is set for Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.
