At the regular meeting on Monday, January 9, 2017, Italy’s City Council announced the termination of Police Chief Cameron Beckham and the appointment of new Police Chief Jason Cherry. The decision to make this transition was not taken lightly. In the course of investigating a separate matter, I formed the opinion that Chief Beckham had not acted in the City’s best interest on multiple occasions. I felt that his actions were negatively impacting not only his subordinates, but also staff in other departments and ultimately the citizens of Italy. I do not wish to comment further except to say that I sincerely wish Chief Beckham the best of luck on future endeavors.

It is important that we as a community support Chief Cherry as he assumes his new leadership role. The Council and I are confident that Chief Cherry will restore the morale and collaborative spiriut that are necessary for cities such as ours to function efficiently.

Steven Farmer
Mayor