T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper addresses the city council during a special meeting on Monday night. Tupper officially withdrew himself from consideration for appointment to the position of interim city administrator, and the council also tabled action on hiring an outside search firm to find a permanent replacement for the job after former City Administrator Joe Gaa resigned last week.

While he believed he had the necessary votes, the relevant experience and the support of the community to fill the role of interim city administrator, Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper formally withdrew his name from consideration during a special city council meeting on Monday night, citing his disgust with accusations leveled at him by Councilor Gary Thompson during a previous special meeting and the fact that they were allowed to be aired in an open session.

Although he did not speak publicly during the prior meeting, Tupper, who has served as police chief since 2011, stepped to the podium on Monday after a motion was made and seconded to formally appoint him. He told the sizable audience he had struggled to figure out what he would say and was “at a bit of a loss for words.”

“I love this job. I love my job. I do love it a little bit less than I did last week, I’ll be honest with you, but I love this community and my love for this community is unwavering,” he said. “I wasn’t looking for more headaches in my life or more work in my life. I have plenty to do.”

He shared that he had been asked almost a week ago to consider taking on the position while the search for a full-time replacement played out, and after discussion, thought and prayer — and against the advice of his wife — he agreed to give it a try.

“I wanted to help. I wasn’t looking for a full-time gig. Just trying to help,” Tupper said.

From there, he addressed the questions raised about his qualifications and felt that his 31 years of public service, with 27 of them in a supervisory or management capacity and almost 20 years as a police chief between Nevada and Marshalltown, spoke for themselves.

“I’ve successfully managed hundreds of people over the years, led projects, two public safety building projects on my resume. I think it’s fair to say that I have a ton of community support here. I understand the community. The community respects me (and) supports me. I can count on one hand the number of city council meetings I’ve missed in over 12 years here,” Tupper said. “So I understand the issues. I’m familiar with what we’re trying to do. I’ve managed large projects, small projects, multi million dollar budgets, crisis and chaos, two natural disasters. I think I’ve been accomplished as a public service employee.”

He had “no doubt” he could’ve done the job and had a plan to start the work as soon as possible, but on Saturday night, Tupper informed Mayor Joel Greer — the current acting interim city administrator — that he was no longer interested. He then went into further detail as to why and responded directly to Thompson’s concerns about appointing him to the position based on interviews Thompson had conducted with 14 former officers who left the police department during his first term on the council.

“I was astonished at what was allowed to happen in this chamber last Thursday night. The accusations that were leveled against me (were) absurd, baseless (and) unfounded,” Tupper said. “As the police chief, it’s not a popularity contest.”

According to Tupper, he was asked by his boss at the time, Randy Wetmore, to be a change agent and make unpopular decisions, including reorganizing the department twice and changing policies, procedures and protocols.

“We’ve addressed a lot of problems, and I stand confidently on my record here. And the community supports what we’ve accomplished, and I will not stand idly by and let somebody slander me either in this chamber or via mass text messages, which are probably a violation of open meeting law,” he said. “As I stated when I opened my comments, I love this community. We have a great community. We have important work ahead of us, and I think at times we spend far too much time in this chamber debating petty grievances. And we are failing to focus on the big issues that our community demands us to focus on.”

He concluded that the city had a lot of problems to solve and issues to address.

“So I am confident that I have the votes tonight to be appointed interim city manager, no doubt in my mind. I am confident that I have the support of the community to accept that job, but I am no longer interested,” Tupper said. “Take my name out of the hat. I am going back to work tomorrow as your full time police chief, and I’m ready to move forward and tackle the work of the day. I appreciate your time, and I truly do appreciate the opportunity to be considered. I do appreciate that, and I appreciate what Marshalltown has done for me and my family. And I know that whatever you decide to do, we’re gonna be OK. (We’re) a strong community, and we’ll figure it out.”

Greer then said he was “embarrassed” that he let the discussion go as far as it did during the previous meeting.

“I had to walk the tightrope between what looked to me to be an employee matter that is ordinarily allowing the employee to have a closed session on the one hand and then looking at vetting a candidate for a different position on the other hand, and I apologize for that, Chief,” the mayor said. “You know I’ve been part of your fan club since you got here, and I remember interviewing you in this room with about six other candidates. And after meeting all seven, I thought you were the guy. I went up and met your wife and told you that, and I’ve been pleased to have you here since then. So thank you.”

With the motion essentially moot, it was withdrawn, and there were no further comments from any of the councilors. No other appointments were suggested, so for the time being, Greer will continue to hold the title until further notice.

Earlier in the meeting, City Human Resources Director Jill Petermeier came before the council to report that MGT of America, which recently merged with GovHR, would honor its prior price of $24,500 for its services in conducting the search for the next permanent city administrator.

Councilor Jeff Schneider said he felt the city should pause on the search for a few months and “let things cool down” with Greer or whoever becomes the acting or interim city administrator. He moved to table approving the agreement, and a vote to do so passed by a 6-1 tally with Thompson opposed.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved the termination of the lease agreement for the public use of the Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.