The small town of Alexandria, Tennessee is up in arms less than a month after a new mayor was elected after she allegedly drove the entire police force to quit.
Mayor Beth Tripp, who assumed office on August 1, pleaded for the town to have some ‘patience’ as she grapples with a number of issues plaguing the area, also including complaints over its filthy water supply.
After her election, police chief Travis Bryant accused Tripp of ‘micromanaging’ the police department and ordering it around despite having ‘no experience’ in policing, ultimately leading the force’s three police officers to quit on Tuesday.
‘She tried to reassign our duties to the sheriff’s department, and then it was becoming a micromanaging issue,’ Bryant told NewsChannel5.
Mayor Beth Tripp has been accused of micromanaging hops in Alexandria, Tennessee, prompting tjhe entire department to quit
Bryant blamed a fallout with the mayor’s office for his force’s decision to quit their roles, saying Tripp ‘wanted to control the police department, and she has no experience.’
In a response interview with the outlet, Tripp said she was left with a mess caused by previous elected officials in the town and denied ‘micromanaging’ the police force.
‘I don’t understand that,’ she said. ‘Because I was asking them to do their jobs, so if I was asking them to do their job, does that sound like I’m going to give it over to county?’
Tripp said her early days in office have been consumed by trying to find more police officers, and insists she is ‘working on every solution.’
The mayor was elected as the only candidate on the ballot, although two others mounted write-in campaigns, and she won with just 88 votes in the small town of roughly 900 people.
Police Chief Travis Bryant is also angry about the quality of drinking water in the town
Residents of Alexandria, pictured, are disturbed by the ongoing fight
Tripp said that her brief time in office has so far been an ordeal, as she says she inherited several issues that she is working to address.
‘Every day is something new and something different, but I’m working my hardest to get them all fixed,’ she told NewsChannel5.
While admitting that facing angry constituents is something that ‘you’re going to get in politics’ and is ‘nothing new’, she said wasn’t expecting such an onslaught so early into her tenure.
‘I didn’t figure it would be this bad,’ she added. ‘To keep on attacking me for no reason, when I’m only trying to do my job?’
On top of losing her police force, Tripp has also faced residents who are furious over the town’s filthy water supply, which she says was an issue past administrations also had but never fixed.
‘Things were neglected,’ she continued.
‘There were 160 complaints (about the water)… on July 18, that’s a lot of complaints, that was before my time.’
But with some residents saying they have been struggling with the water supply since last year, Tripp admitted she needs time to reverse her town’s fortunes.
‘I wish people would have patience and give me the chance to correct things that need to be corrected,’ she concluded.