After handing in his resignation to the city council, former Sebeka Police Chief Norm Pettis is now a Wadena County sheriff's deputy and serves the Verndale police force.
Pettis resigned during a heated city council meeting April 10. Pettis did not receive any specific allegations in writing from the council, he said.
"I asked for a copy of it according to the statute," he said,citing Minnesota Statute 626.89, known as the Peace Officer Discipline Procedures Act. "I was told it was verbal."
Sebeka Mayor Debbie Carlson said the allegations were not made by a member of the public, which would have involved a complaint form. The allegations were from the council and the council would not fill out a complaint.
She said Pettis was already on a performance review and when something like this comes up you have to address it.
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Pettis's repeated requests during the meeting to have an attorney present were ignored by the council, he said.
Carlson said Pettis was assuming it was an administrative hearing when he cited Minnesota Statute 626.89. It was a regular council meeting, she said. The meeting should have been titled as a performance review.
The specific allegation involved a March 15 time card when Pettis filled in as a bailiff at the Wadena County Courthouse.
Pettis said it was a "swap of services" that was part of an agreement established with former Sheriff Mike Carr.
"The county has helped us out many times also, and we don't charge for their services," he said.
Carlson said she was not aware of the arrangement.
Pettis said he recorded the correct information on his card.
"I did not lie on my time card," he said. "I said exactly what I was doing."
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Carlson said Pettis recorded on his time card that he was on duty for the city of Sebeka when he was working as a bailiff for Wadena County and had the county on call for him.
The Wednesday morning after Pettis's resignation, he went to the city clerk to write out a check, he said.
"If I owed the city any money I was going to reimburse the city money," he said. "I wanted to make it right."
The clerk told Pettis that he didn't owe the city any money because it had used his available comp time to zero out the time card discrepancy, he said.
Carlson said she found out that same day that the comp time had been used.
Councilman Randy Pickar declined comment about his council motion to terminate Pettis immediately, and deal with any legal repercussions. He also would not comment on why the city council did not believe it was necessary to accommodate Pettis's request for an attorney.
