Palmer in upheaval over new city manager, who demanded the badge of cherished police chief

Palmer’s city manager, hired to start work in late August, may not make it much longer. He’s upset the apple cart in Palmer to such an extent that the city council is going to have an emergency meeting about him.

On Tuesday, Stephen Jellie suspended 27-year Palmer Police veteran and Chief Dwayne Shelton. Shelton is highly regarded in the community and the news came as a shock.

“At 3:42 p.m. Mr. Jellie placed me on paid administrative leave. I received a written letter at 5:45 p.m. He ordered me to turn in my badge and gun, threatened to have me arrested by the state police,” Shelton told the Palmer City Council on Tuesday. Shelton said it was retaliatory “because I brought forth public safety concerns and employee rights regarding significant policy changes he is implementing.”

There are concerns that Jellie has also threatened people who work for the city.

A letter by the city attorney, Sarah Heath, lays out some of the controversy about Jellie, was read aloud to the Palmer City Council at Tuesday’s meeting:

Jellie will be the subject of the emergency meeting of the Palmer City Council at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9, of the city council. At some point, the council is expected to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters.

Pam Melin, now retired from the city council, said she has advised the council in her role a citizen that Jellie is dangerous, and that the city is at risk with him in his current position.

Jellie has had controversies at his previous job as fire chief for Teton County and in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He also resigned from his job as a city manager in Ogdensburg, New York, but he said, during his interview process in Palmer, that the disputes were as a result of budget cuts.

After arriving in Palmer, Jellie took down the Palmer Police Dispatch unit and routed emergency calls through the borough’s Mat-Com. He also ended the practice of having police officers take police vehicles home with them so they could respond to emergencies at a moment’s notice.

Shelton said, “When officers respond to a criminal act in progress, whether it be a school shooting … they would have to drive by and pass that school in most cases to get to their car, warm it up, thaw it out, to then go back to take care of the situation.”

Shelton said he swore an oath to protect and serve all the people of Palmer as well as in Alaskans in general.

“I do not take this oath lightly, and have served willingly and unwaveringly for the past 25 years here in Palmer. In 45 days, Mr. Jellie has all but undone the public safety fabric of our society that you guys together, with the citizens and employees of Palmer have woven.”