Monday evening Argos Town Council President Mark VanDerWeele confirmed that he had received an email on Saturday from Argos Police Chief Rodney Rudd indicating his intention to resign his position as Chief.
VanDerWeele said, “It is a personnel issue so I can’t talk about it, but I can confirm I received an email.” He noted that all five council members and the members of the Metropolitan Police Commission, a local board appointed by the council received emails.
The next Argos Town Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 18th but VanDerWeele said he didn’t expect to discuss the matter noting that the police commission is the one who hires the police chief and it would be their call to accept the resignation. The next meeting for the police commission is March 4th.
Chief Rudd told WTCA News “I have requested a reduction in grade, going from Chief back to Sergeant. I’m not leaving the department. After serving as the Argos Police Chief for 8 years I feel it’s a good time to let someone else lead the department.”
Rudd closed his comments by saying, “I have an outstanding group of officers which made my job very easy.” His resignation as Chief and reduction to sergeant would be effective as of March
4, 2015.
The Argos Town Council President also confirmed a problem with the town’s health insurance. An employee attempted to obtain a prescription using their pharmacy card and was told the health insurance policy had lapsed due to the premiums not being paid.
It appears there is a billing dispute and payment was withheld by the town and the policy was cancelled. VanDerWeele said payment was to be paid on Tuesday and the agent would get coverage re-instated for the town.
