“In your role as acting police chief, you failed to provide appropriate leadership to the department at a time when you could have used your seniority on the force and your command position to help stabilize the department,” Anderson wrote.
Anderson accused Chambers of “conspiring” with Councilman Gale Joy and then-Councilwoman Tammy Loch — who has since forfeited her seat after being found to have delinquent taxes, a violation of a new village ordinance — in an attempt to remove both Anderson and Village Law Director Mike McNamee from their positions. Loch did not respond to a request for comment.
Anderson and McNamee were appointed to their respective positions in February after village council placed most of its top leadership — including former Village Manager Glena Madden and former Law Director Ronald Keener — on administrative leave, launching an ongoing internal investigation into alleged misconduct.
Madden was fired weeks later and Keener was informed his services were no longer needed. The remaining village officials placed on leave were subsequently terminated, as well.
Councilmembers Timothy Back and Melissa Sexton, along with Mayor David Nickerson and Vice Mayor Nicole Adkins, led the charge in the firings, as well as the initiation of the internal investigation into the village, both of which passed in narrow 4-3 council votes.
Back, Sexton and Nickerson all were newly elected in November. Incumbent Councilmembers Joy, Loch, and Lyndon Perkins were the three dissenting votes.
Tensions have continued to mount among members of council, village administration, and residents, as conflicting opinions on how the municipality should be run collide.
The village’s termination letter to Chambers asserts that in May, Joy and Loch filed false charges against Anderson and McNamee with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Anderson alleges Chambers and New Lebanon Det. Gretchen Weir met with Joy on May 1 at the village municipal building to assist the councilmembers in doing so.
In a statement to Dayton Daily News on Thursday, Chambers denied any wrongdoing, calling Anderson’s allegations “false.”
“This is yet another example of the destructive behavior by the mayor, three council members, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. McNamee,” his statement reads.
In a May 1 email to Chambers, Anderson had inquired about the subject of the meeting between Joy, Weir, and himself. Chambers declined to give details, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.
“A potential conflict of interest exists in this case and, as such, I have reached out to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office,” Chambers added in the email.
Email records indicate Chambers further declined to forward the case details to McNamee, who as village law director would typically review such complaints for conflicts of interest prior to involving an outside agency.
Sheriff’s office documents show Joy and Loch filed separate but similar reports claiming their civil rights were violated when McNamee prohibited the pair from addressing council during the citizen participation portion of the village council meetings.
When contacted as part of the MCSO inquiry, McNamee pushed back against the allegation, records show, contending that while council members are not permitted to speak during the citizen comment section, they are allotted five minutes to do so at the end of each meeting.
The MCSO inquiry ultimately concluded that no criminal or civil violations occurred.
The termination letter from Anderson also claims Chambers falsified timecard records by acting in his capacity as a New Lebanon police officer while visiting the MCSO on May 7 to file additional dereliction of duty charges on his own behalf against McNamee despite being off duty that day.
Email and timecard records indicate Chambers had called in sick to work that day.
Joy on Friday categorized Chambers’ termination as “more of the same” that he has come to expect from the new village leadership.
“I believe you will also see a continuation of their campaign to remove employees or anyone they feel to be a threat or show any form of resistance to their take-over of the village,” Joy wrote in an email to this newspaper.
Chambers, who joined the New Lebanon Police Department in November 1999, said he has appealed his termination with the village and retained legal counsel.
“(I) intend to fight the gross negligence and illegal actions of Mr. Anderson and Mr. McNamee et al.,” Chambers wrote. “The citizens of New Lebanon are going to pay an unfortunate price for the political subterfuge by the mayor and three council members; all their destructive actions have a dollar sign attached and a human cost.”
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