Civil servant unrest in our nearby burg:

Haymarket mayor resigning, but not in disgrace: David Taylor bought land outside of the town and plans to devote more time to his business and family. I'm of the opinion that Taylor's done a fair job as mayor in the aftermath of Jack Kapp's abrupt and ragged exit. The town's obviously outgunned by developers and in an untenable position regarding growth, with Gainesville breathing down its neck, but there is some amount of pride to be found there

But before he goes, Taylor and the town council suspended Chief of Police Roop and Sgt. Greg Breeden for an undisclosed offense. Their suspension was reduced to 15 days and now they are back on the job. Town reaction has been mixed.

"It's sickening," said Charles Leonard, a 32-year Haymarket resident, about the council's reluctance to disclose the basis of the suspensions. Roop and Breeden are two officers in a nine-officer police department, which the town funds.

The WaPo helps one of the officers dig himself a hole which will surely hurt him when Roop returns:

Haymarket police officer Robert Hoffman, 39, who has been with the force for four years, said the mayor told him a hostile work environment was the reason for the suspensions. Hoffman said the investigation began about four weeks ago when officers on the force ran into a council member at the town's Subway sandwich shop and began complaining about the department.

The Town Council soon hired an attorney, who interviewed most members of the department, Hoffman said. Hoffman said he told the investigator that the chief works only a few days out of the week and that he makes offensive jokes around the office.

"He's not worked more than three days [a week] for the last year and a half. If he's ever worked more than four a week, it's been a heck of a week," said Hoffman, who added that he had hoped the chief would have been terminated and the sergeant demoted.

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