Missing inventory topic of tense Sharon board meeting

By Josh Lemons, Press Editor

Tensions ran high in Monday night’s meeting in a packed Sharon City Hall, as former Police Chief Mark Kimsey, when Mayor Donna Stricklin asked those in attendance if they had any questions, answered with a simple, “I have some questions. Actually, I have three.”

Kimsey was terminated in a special meeting last week, with the board citing missing inventory and tampering with the department’s computers and network, allegedly wiping the computers clean of any recoverable information, according to allegations in the meeting.

Kimsey said, (1) that if there are items missing, why was he not questioned prior to termination regarding the items in question. And (2) What are the items?

“I wasn’t asked to turn anything in,” Kimsey said. “I voluntarily turned in stuff that wasn’t mine and I took things that were mine.”

Stricklin said that the board is still in the process of determining what is missing but that is difficult with the computer systems being “wiped clean.”

“We didn’t do that,” Stricklin said. “Someone else did. And I hope the inventory list was on that computer. I don’t know where it’s at.”

She said this all stems from an audit that was performed in January of this year, where the mayor asked Kimsey to put together an inventory list, something that she said she asked of Kimsey on multiple occasions. Kimsey claims that the list was on his desk at the time of his termination.

Stricklin then said that they discovered that some guns and ammunition were missing when they opened the gun safe, three days after Kimsey’s termination.

“We thought they would have been in the gun safe,” Stricklin said. “When we opened the gun case there were no guns. Not one.”

Tensions increased when Kimsey accused Alderman Joe D. Jones of tampering with the computers on the evening in question. Jones responded, saying that he did look at the computer but did not explore inside of the computer files.

“I got on the computer. Sure did,” Jones said. “Just to see what was on there.”

Jones said when he left the building that night that the department’s computers were up and functional. It was the next day they discovered that the system “was wiped.”

“How did that happen?” Jones said.

The board went on to recommend that Justin Harris be hired as a part-time police officer, working up to “25 hours” once he has completed his training. It was also mentioned that while the city puts together a budget to see how many additional officers can be brought on, that the public safety is not in any risk with the Weakley County Sherriff’s Department responding to all calls inside of the county, including the city limits of Sharon.

Former Sharon Police Chief Mark Kimsey (center) responded to allegations during the monthly Sharon board meeting.