Montgomery has lost a police chief today. Chief Kenneth Hudgens resigned this afternoon during a special session of the city council. Almost one hundred people packed the council chambers to voice their opinions. Eleven people spoke on behalf of Chief Hudgens.
The council then went into executive session and came out with the decision to accept the chiefs resignation. In the terms of the resignation he will get all his vacation, several hundred hours of sick time and leave time. He will also b paid through May 28, 2011. His last day is to be today.
Just before 6:50p.m. this Friday evening Chief Hudgens came on the county and broadcast one last message. “To all the police departments, sheriff deputies and agencies that have worked with Montgomery Police Department, thank you.”
Many people called for the resignation of the three city council members who have given the department grief for a long period of time. People are quite saddened. Residents and business owners told the group how at times doors were never locked and still nothing was ever stolen.
Still others told of the Chief giving out his cell phone number and how he would answer it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Some of it was for minor things such as cattle on the road, or a tree over the road.
Hudgens wife Tina spoke of how he was hired as a police chief, not a part-time chief and how he was hardly ever home.
Ken Hudgens said after the meeting if he didn’t resign and was terminated he would lose all the vacation time which he has lost before as he hardly ever took one. Also sick time and other hours he had accumulated. He could have lost over $30,000 by not resigning.
The citizens of Montgomery started a Facebook page several days ago which has had over 400 comments in support of Hudgens. Chief Hudgens wife Tina posted a message on the webpage:
This is the chief’s wife, Tina Hudgens. I just wanted to correct a statement that has been made previously in the comments. Chief Hudgens was hired as a full-time police chief when he was initially employed by the City of Montgomery, and he has NEVER been considered part time. (Please refer to the Courier article from March 4, 2004). He works wover 40 hours a week for the City of Montgomery, which justifies full-time employment, in addition to all of the many off-the-clock extra duties that come with being a police chief. I do not understand why some people do not agree that he is not doing his job on a full-time basis.
City Council is micro-managing the police department, and they are steppin in areas where they are not qualified to do so. My husband, Chief Hudgens, does not want to see the quality of the police department in Montgomery suffer because of City Council’s decisions, and he’s standing up for the citizens of Montgomery because he cares about their safety. I don’t understand why only now is his being a fireman (which he only does two days a week or less for the Houston Fire Dept) has become a problem, when the past four police chiefs for the City of Montgomery also have been Houston Firemen. When he was hired in 2004, the council knew that he was a Fireman, yet they unanimously voted for him to be a FULL-TIME police chief. The only reason for his possible resignation is because the Council is not allowing him to do his job, and City Council is forcing him to quit.
