OOLITIC - MAY 9, 2024 - The Oolitic Town Council approved the resignation of Town Marshal James Harington in a 5-0 vote Wednesday night.
Currently the town is served by acting Town Marshal Greg Hagan, Deputy Marshal Ryan Duckett, and Reserve Marshal Koleman Glenn
The special meeting lasting no more than ten minutes.
A copy of Harrington's resignation letter is listed below that was given to Town Attorney Greg Pittman:
Greg,
This e-mail serves as my letter of resignation from the Oolitic Marshal’s Office, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the following individuals.
Former Oolitic Town Council President Tangie Jenkins and current Oolitic Town Council Member Steve Kerr, for their support and for the opportunities that they afforded me while I was employed by the Town of Oolitic.
All Oolitic residents and residents of Lawrence County who supported me.
All of the law enforcement officers from the Bedford Police Department, the Indiana University Health Department of Public Safety, the Indiana State Police, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mitchell Police Department who assisted me on numerous occasions, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a lot of what I accomplished without their assistance.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam Arp, all of the Lawrence County Deputy Prosecutors, Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Investigator Rob Herr, and all of the support personnel for the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office.
Respectfully,
James T. Harrington
Marshal/Canine Handler
Oolitic Marshal’s Office
The job listing will be posted for a total of three weeks.
For those who are interested here is copy of the job listing:
Town of Oolitic – full time Marshal position (post for 3 weeks)
Town of Oolitic is seeking a full time Marshal ... submit a cover letter of interest; updated resume with references or letters of recommendation to:
Brenda Corey, President – Town Council 109 Main Street PO Box 7 Oolitic, IN 47451
Oolitic is a small Town of approximately 1,100 population with approximately 600 households Situated in Lawrence County Indiana; 3 miles North of Bedford IN and 20 miles South of Bloomington IN, in God’s country
The Town currently has 5 full time and 2 part time employees
The Marshal is a hire of and a direct report to the 5 member Town Council
Hours and shift is flexible
Must be a tier 1 ILEA graduate with current certifications Civil PERF
Take home vehicle available
Must have demonstrated, in prior employment, good to excellent leadership abilities and keeping office / station administrative functions up to date
Initial hire all uniforms and equipment paid by the Town; afterwards an annual uniform allowance of $1,500 paid once a year on November 1st
Pay is currently $47,340.32; biweekly direct deposit
IU Health insurance 100% paid monthly premium for primary; 50% paid monthly premium for dependents; employee responsible for all copays
17 paid Holidays –
5 days’ vacation after 12 months of continuous service
10 days’ vacation after 2 years of continuous service
15 days’ vacation after 10 years of continuous service
20 days’ vacation after 20 years of continuous service
Full-time employees are granted sick leave with full pay at the rate of one day per two months of continuous service.
Employees will be allowed to accumulate ten days of sick leave; Unused days may be carried over with a maximum number of days accumulated does not exceed ten days.
Full-time employee are granted emergency leave with full pay at the rate of 1 day per 3 months of continuous service.
Each employee will be allowed to take four days of emergency leave to be taken before each anniversary date; Unused emergency leave days cannot be carried over.
The Marshal and Deputies are non-exempt employees and shall receive one and one-half hours of compensatory time for time worked in excess of 160 hours during a 28-day work cycle.
The employee may accrue up to 480 hours of comp time at which point the employee could be compensated at the rate of one and half their regular hourly rate.
At the beginning of the meeting Oolitic Vice- President Jon Broglin took issue with Lawrence County Zephyr coverage of the incident in which the Lawrence County Zephyr a copy of which Broglin handed to reporter Bill Raines the following statement.
Photo: Several officers was dispatched to Town Hall after Oolitic Town employee Wes Tipton confronted Oolitic Town Marshal James Harrington about the arrest of town employee Michael Collins on an unrelated charge
In response to the Lawrence County Zephyr's news posting on the upcoming of Wednesday's meeting on May 8, 2024. No one on the night of October 30, 2023 was battered Harrington " poor choice of words," wrote Broglin.
According to Broglin " Harrington in uniform, exited his vehicle peppered spray the employee and drew his weapon approaching the employee who at the time was backing up from Harrington with his hands in the air. The employee was not armed, and at no time laid his hands on the officer. The employee did not comply with officer commands and rightfully taken to the ground,"
The employee was peppered spray, and tased him twice, however Harrington claims there was no de-escalation attempts by Marshal Harrington.
According to Vice- President Broglin at no time the town employee threatened Harrington. The employee did tell Harrington "come and get me .... shoot me" which is viewable on the full body cameras,"
The body camera footage provided by Harrington was only 2:48 minutes in length of all the events and there was only 18 minutes just from Harrington. According to Broglin the body camera footage is property of the Town of Oolitic with town equipment, while on paid duty at the time.
The body camera footage was released without a duly submitted and approved FOIA request.
According to Broglin there was no obstruction of justice on his part, clearly the only one battered was the town employee.
Broglin did not provide of Conduct to the Lawrence County Zephyr that would have outline the conduct and behavior of the town employee. At no time in Broglin statement did he release the employee's name.
For breaking news and information go to lczephyr.org or like/follow the Lawrence County Zephyr Facebook page.
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