New Eatonville mayor asks department heads to resign

Eatonville is looking for a new police chief after a controversial request from newly elected Mayor Anthony Grant to the town’s department heads.

Mayor Grant accepted Eatonville Police Chief Eugenio Bernal’s letter of resignation on Tuesday after he requested such letters from him and several other department heads, including Recreation Department Director Rod Bargaineer, Finance Director Katrina Gibson and Town Clerk Debra Franklin.

Grant claimed that it’s common practice in many forms of government to request letters of resignation when a new administration is elected. The mayor can then decide whether to accept them or not, he said.

“That’s standard, I’ve been doing that for 20 years,” he said. “Even when I’m reelected I ask for letters of resignation, because it gives me an opportunity to look at my staff and to make some changes if I need to make some changes.”

“We should have the opportunity to bring people in that we believe have a vision like our vision.”

Grant added that it’s a far more professional approach than firing an employee impromptu in the middle of a public forum – a fate that befell former Town Clerk Cathy Williams in a June 2009 meeting following the election of Mayor Bruce Mount.

Eatonville Councilman Eddie Cole said he disagreed with Grant’s approach of requesting letters of resignation, claiming it goes against the town charter. Since a department head must be voted in, it requires a vote to remove them, Cole said.

He also took issue with the removal of Chief Bernal.

“This is a chief that people believed in,” Cole said.

Bernal served as Eatonville’s police chief for two years, bringing 32 years of experience to his role. He oversaw the Eatonville Police Department’s acquisition of new firearms to replace outdated ones, the construction of a new evidence room, and the rewiring of the police department.

“I feel very proud of what I’ve done,” Bernal said. “I think my resignation was the best thing for me and my future, as well as everybody.”

Grant said he accepted the resignation because he hopes to move the police force in a different direction.

“We’re going to move forward and build a better police department,” Grant said. “My vision for the police department is a more community-oriented style of policing … I want them to know the residents and I want them to know the business community.”

Last week saw more controversy within the Eatonville Police Department when Grant made the decision to remove five cars from the department.

“When I came to the Eatonville Police Department, I found a group of officers that had no direction or motivation. They came to work because they had to and did the very minimum to get by,” Bernal wrote in a letter to Grant last week.

“Your decision to take five of their vehicles away, just because, has killed [the officers’] morale. I will continue to ask for 100 percent of them and I know they will give it to me. However, I can see that the flame in their eyes and the drive to give it all is gone. They truly believe that other than me, there is no one in this administration that cares about them.”

Eatonville has appointed Sgt. Eric McIntyre as its interim police chief until further notice.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently launched an investigation of Grant in the wake of accusations claiming his absentee votes from last month’s election were unlawfully obtained.