SALEM, W. Va. — In a special meeting Wednesday night, Salem’s Town Council voted 4-2 to suspend Manager Joe Davis with pay.
The action comes after Davis and Police Chief Al Swiger wrote letters urging Harrison County Circuit Judge John Lewis Marks Jr. to allow former Town Manager David Mayle to serve the remained of his prison sentence on home confinement. Mayle was found guilty of embezzling nearly $44,000 of Salem’s funds in 2012.
Those who voted for the suspension were not upset the letters were written, but in the capacity with which they were written.
“If they had wrote them as a concerned citizen or as a friend, not in 100 years would we have had that meeting,” Vice-Mayor Bob Knight said. “But, the Police Chief used the letterhead from the police department and the City Manager signed it ‘City Manager’.”
Council wanted to take action against Swiger as well but the charter governing the town dictates the only individual allowed to deal employees hired by Salem is the manager, even though they indicated they were seeking only to reprimand him, not fire him.
Before the 4-2 vote to suspend Davis with pay on Wednesday, there were those that spoke in favor of him, citing the positive work he has done for Salem.
“They felt that [the letters] didn’t interfere with the town at all,” Knight said.
Other citizens, Knight claimed, called the city “irate” over the letters.
Knight said the next step is for Davis to request a public hearing “which is supposed to be happening in 15 days. He’s to request it and anywhere between 10 to 15 days after he requests it, we’re to have a public hearing.”
Hypothetically, should Davis not request a hearing, his position would effectively be terminated.