Culture of ‘misbehavior’ tolerated at Clayton Police Department, draft report says
The Clayton Police Department, with a former officer under indictment and its chief out the door, has had a “culture where various forms of misbehavior” were tolerated, the town manager said recently.
Town Manager J.D. Solomon set a roughly 400-page, draft report on the dais during a Jan. 19 meeting of the Clayton Town Council.
There were “another 1,500 pages of exhibits and testimony,” he had not printed out, Solomon told the council.
“At the most general level, the draft report indicates a culture where various forms of misbehavior were tolerated for certain classes or types of people and not for others, and certain management practices were not implemented as consistently in some cases as in others,” he said.
“The end result is some people were more impacted than others,” he said, “but that many had a much more stressful work environment than they probably should have.”
It could take up to 60 days to fully review the draft report, and even then it might not be fully released, Solomon said. The external investigation was done by US ISS, a security consultant.
“The public and even this Town Council is probably going to be frustrated by the amount of information we can provide to the public,” Solomon said. “I want to remind everyone that these are personnel matters. All of our employees, whether they are held accountable for some of the things that have gone on or whether they feel impacted by those events, they all have certain rights of privacy under the law.”
The News & Observer requested a copy of the report but was told it would not be released because the investigation was ongoing.
The draft report is the latest in a string of controversies for the town.
▪ A former Clayton police officer was indicted by a grand jury in January on charges of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver testosterone, sale and deliver of testosterone and manufacture of testosterone.
▪ A Clayton Town Council member and the mayor called the appointment of Solomon, a long-time contractor, as the town manager a “buddy-system” hire that wasted taxpayers’ money and lacked transparency.
Solomon was appointed the interim town manager on Aug. 28. He said he was soon notified of complaints and the state investigation into the former police officer.
▪ Clayton Police Chief Blair Myhand was placed on administrative leave Nov. 16, and US ISS, was hired for an external non-criminal investigation.
Myhand, who is still on administrative leave, could not be reached for comment for this story. But he was recently named as the new police chief of Hendersonville. His first day is Feb. 15.
“His skills, training, and experience will be an asset to our community,” said Hendersonville City Manager John Connet in a Jan. 15 statement. “I had the opportunity to speak to several Clayton community leaders about Blair and they all said he works well with community organizations and is an outstanding leader. He will speak his mind but is willing to compromise and find reasonable solutions to complex problems.”
“Front-line” Clayton police officers are doing a good job, Solomon said, adding the town is “pro-police.”
“I don’t want there to be no mistake in the coming weeks and months that all of what we do with our current investigation — that is ongoing — is it’s really out of concern of improving our police department,” Solomon said. “It’s not to get the police department. It’s not to do anything to the police department. It’s so we can make it a better place. And to restore it to the stature that I think it really once had in the region.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
