Garland Ward took the oath of office to become McComb’s police chief, representing a homecoming for the McComb native and veteran lawman.
“First of all, I’d like to thank God, and I’d like to thank the mayor and selectmen of the City of McComb, and I would like to thank my family and friends who are here,” he said.
Ward, who most recently worked as an investigator with the Mississippi Attorney General’s office, took the oath with friends, family and police chiefs from neighboring towns in attendance.
He specifically thanked his children, who were also there.
“I’d like to thank my kids because they sacrifice so much for me to do what I love to do, and I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
He said he looks forward to working in the city and hopes to help build it up.
“We have a lot of work to do here, and I think the staff I have here with Capt. (Steve) Powell, (Deputy Chief Rodney) Nordstrom and (Detective Victoria) Carter, we are going to do fine,” he said. “We just have to build on the foundation we have, and I think McComb is going to be a better place.”
Selectmen Devante Johnson and Ronnie Brock, along with Mayor Quordiniah Lockley and City Administrator Dirkland Smith, attended the ceremony. Johnson expressed excitement for the appointment.
“We are happy to have him,” Johnson said. “It’s a big improvement for the city. ‘Run it,’ is all I can tell him, run it.”
In other police news, a judge on Monday granted the city attorney’s request to delay a Civil Service Commission hearing in order for former police chief Damian Gatlin to appeal his firing.
The civil service commission had originally scheduled a June 10 hearing for Gatlin, but board attorney Angela Cockerham, who also is a state representative, wanted a delay, noting that she is expected to be serving in the state Legislature then.
“These cases are never fun,” Circuit Judge David Strong said, noting that he is friends with many of the city officials involved as well as with Gatlin. “But this is an easy one to settle.”
In granting Cockerham’s request, Strong granted the city the extension for the hearing, citing a state law that says if a member of the Legislature calls for an extension while the Legislature is in session, it must be granted.
“Unless someone can show that Cockerham is not in the legislature, which she is, and the legislature is not in session, which we all know is in session, I have to grant the continuance,” Strong said.
Civil Service Commission chairman Don Lazarus said the delay is an attempt to “thwart” Gatlin of his due process, and other officials could be appointed to represent the city in the matter.
Cockerham said the city wants her to sit in on the hearing, adding that is the job she was hired for.
Lazarus also said Gatlin never received a reason for his termination in written form, which he claimed is a violation of civil service rules.
“That has nothing to do with this court today,” Strong said. “Y’all are so far outside of this court’s jurisdiction today.”
Gatlin was fired April following a split vote by the city board, which vague reasons for his dismissal.
After the hearing, Lockley deferred comments to Cockerham, who also declined to comment.
