No decision on Police Chief's employment in Taft

It was a packed room at Tuesday night's Taft city council meeting that went late into the night, with many in support of the police chief...but no decision or discussion on the chief's employment has been made, as the chief was not asked to be at the city council.

"Due to the lack of presence of Chief Landreth, I'd like to make a motion to table this line item at this time," said Taft City Councilmember Alonso Monia.

As 6 Investigates reported earlier this week , Chief John Landreth exposed fraudulent overtime being paid to city employees, first alerting city leaders before coming to KRIS 6 for help.

Taft city manager Kandi Hubert claims she didn't know about allegations of overtime misuse, despite texts sent by the chief.

That item was scheduled to be talked about in executive session, but Landreth says he has asked for any discussion to occur in public.

The mayor also had a complaint against him in open session, claiming he asked the city could pay to replace bases at the city-owned baseball field that he says were damaged by public works.

After offering to pay it back, he was challenged on the principle of spending, deciding to withdraw from the Little League altogether.

As for Chief Landreth, KRIS 6 called him afterward, and he told us he would be at the next city council meeting if he is on the agenda.

The next Taft City Council meeting is on Tuesday, May 28th.