By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Cedar Key City Commissioners Tuesday voted 3-2 to uphold Mayor Heath Davis’ firing of the city’s popular police chief, Virgil Sandlin, on grounds that he abandoned his shift on Feb. 26 despite being notified by his own department that a “terrible thing” was happening on Dock Street and his help was needed.

            Davis provided no details of what happened on the night of Feb. 26, and Sandlin and his attorney, Ware Cornell, made no mention of the incident in their appeal of the termination, focusing instead on allegations that Davis allegedly violated the Florida Police and Correctional Officers Bill of Rights by terminating Sandlin without following proper procedure.

            Violating Sandlin’s Rights

            A standing-room-only crowd of mostly Sandlin backers filled the community center. Many held paper signs that said, “We support Virgil.” Supporters stood before the microphone one by one calling for the commission to show mercy on Sandlin, a police chief for nearly 14 years on the island city, who in the view of most in the audience went out of his way to help people.

            Sandlin and his attorney did not say what they might do as a next step. Sandlin had announced his plans to retire on May 11 well before he was terminated. His termination won’t affect his retirement benefits. Cornell said he would consult with his client on what the next step might be, but at this time he could say no more. Sandlin gave the city commission a one-sentence written statement about why he was appealing the termination.

            “I was terminated for taking sick leave,” he wrote. The statement was part of the agenda.

            Sandlin was largely silent during his appeal, allowing his attorney to speak for him. Cornell said Sandlin, as a sworn law enforcement officer, is protected by the Florida Law Enforcement and Correctional Officer Bill of Rights.

            “None of that happened here. All of the things that must happen is that the officer must be given notice – he was not – it must be kept confidential – it was not. This law provides civil remedies for those who violate confidentiality. I know Mr. Fugate (City Attorney Norm Fugate) knows this law because it’s been applied to police officers being dismissed by the department during the almost 14 years Chief Sandlin has been in office. I cannot understand why this case wasn’t,” Cornell said.

            Cornell added that he understood Davis has the right under the “strong mayor form of government” to fire city officials, but he said Davis’s power to terminate were pre-empted by the Bill of Rights for law officers.

            “To fire him you must follow that process. At best today, he stands suspended. There is no appeal because this meeting does not follow any of the procedures set forth by the Legislature. I realize that you all are not lawyers, but the city attorney should have recognized this from day one.”

            Davis apologized to the crowd and his fellow commissioners, not because he felt he did anything wrong, but because the termination of Sandlin, a popular police chief, caused division in the community and on the board. He said he knew it was coming and that’s why he slept on it overnight before handing the termination letter to Sandlin on March 1.

            Signs of Problems

            A year ago, Davis said he asked his fellow commissioners point-blank if being given the position of “strong mayor” by his board meant he could he fire a department head for just cause, “and the answer I got was yes.” Soon after, Davis said the city began cleaning up communication problems between department heads and employees, and between city staffers and commissioners. He said they made progress everywhere but in the police department, which struggled to implement new communication processes.

            He said there were several investigations of police officers, one conducted by outside counsel, and one investigation that focused on Sandlin that was conducted by city legal counsel. Davis said he believes the investigations led Sandlin to announce his retirement on May 11. He said the announcement gave the city time to work with existing officers and advertise for a police chief.

            Davis said a personnel committee, of which Sandlin was a member, was formed to improve communications with employees. One of the changes that emerged from the committee was to restructure the police department and create a rotating schedule for all officers in the department. He said Sandlin had been rotated to the night shift on the night of the terrible event on Feb. 26.

            Terrible Dock Street Event

            The mayor said Sandlin called dispatch twice on the weekend of the event that happened on Dock Street and told a dispatcher that Cedar Key wouldn’t have coverage.

            “We don’t know why Virgil called on Friday to dispatch and he did not show up the rest of his shift. Sometime Saturday, he called into dispatch. He said Cedar Key doesn’t have coverage. He did that to dispatch and then an event happened,” Davis said. “I’m thinking about this event because there’s been a lot of communication about this terrible thing that happened on Dock Street. It’s like nobody was there. That’s not true. The only entity that wasn’t there was the Cedar Key Police Department. The sheriff’s office responded, their officers were there – the emergency medical team for Levy County was there and Cedar Key fire was there all dealing with the situation.”

            Davis said he heard about the event on Sunday morning and began gathering facts and investigating on Sunday and Monday.

            “Then after consulting with all parties, I decided it was time to terminate Virgil,” Davis said.

            He said he knew what would happen in the Cedar Key community when the popular police chief was terminated. He said he also knew the city commission would have to sit as a group in the appeals board format and make a hard decision about whether to uphold the termination.

            Abandoning Shift

            “I thought about that and the fact that he abandoned his shift,” Davis said, noting that Sandlin had written the very rule he violated and the commission had approved.

            He said the policy required Sandlin to notify his lieutenant that he wouldn’t be working the shift, and he said Sandlin failed to do that. The purpose of the policy was to ensure that someone in the police department could be called to take the place of the officer who wasn’t available for the shift. In this case, Sandlin wasn’t available for the shift but didn’t notify his lieutenant, Davis said.

            “I thought about that and it was enough to hand him that letter (of termination),” Davis said.

            Resident Barbara McJordan said she felt the termination of Sandlin was far too harsh for a police chief who had served the community well and brought peace to the island community. She said he ran the department calmly, “and things just leveled off.”

            “This man has served the community beyond the call of duty,” she said.

            She said if he stumbled once, and she wasn’t saying he had stumbled, was the community to forget all his good deeds “and fire him two months before retirement.”

            Cedar Key attorney Mike Day said all the comments he was hearing from residents revolved around Sandlin’s work in a small town, not a big city. He said he probably should be evaluated in that light.

            Day said he was aware the mayor acted based on what he thought he should do, but perhaps suspending him would be a more compassionate way to handle the situation.

            “All of these people are saying he has a heart. Look into your own heart,” Day said.

            Breaking Sunshine Law

            One of the most serious allegations of the night was raised by businessman Jimmy “Frog” Statham, who owned a restaurant on Dock Street for 32 years, and accused the city commission of discussing Sandlin’s termination and making a decision to terminate him in private meetings out of public view.

            “What’s obvious to me if it’s not obvious to anyone else whose been listening and watching, obviously discussions between council members and commissioners took place prior to this,” Statham said. “It’s called Government in the Sunshine Law. All these discussions that took place; evidently a couple of you decided to tell Virgil we weren’t going to renew your contract anyway. When did that discussion take place at an advertised public meeting? Where was the meeting advertised about what you were going to be talking about? That did not happen because the discussions were going on constantly in violation of the Florida Government in the Sunshine Act. That’s a serious infraction. Good ole boy politics died a long time ago except maybe not here, but Virgil’s getting the raw end of the deal and I think we have to look at the legalities of conducting city business out of the public eye.”

            When the meeting ended, one longtime Cedar Key resident leaned over to a Spotlight reporter and said, “Elections are coming,” before walking out of the building.

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City of Cedar Key Commission Meeting March 15, 2022; Posted March 15, 2022