HUNTINGTON – A judge has scheduled a hearing in a case in which Milton’s former police chief says he was unlawfully terminated.
O’Dell
Kyle O’Dell filed a complaint for injunctive relief September 2 in Cabell Circuit Court against the City of Milton and Mayor Shane Evans.
Evans
In the complaint, O’Dell says Evans and the city conducted an illegal interrogation of O’Dell and unlawfully terminated him.
Miller
On September 4, Cabell Circuit Judge Chad Lovejoy scheduled a hearing for September 8 in the case.
According to the complaint, O’Dell is a 17-year veteran of the Milton Police Department and a certified law enforcement officer. He attended grade school, middle school and high school in the city. He was promoted to chief in January by Evans, who is in his inaugural term as mayor after having been elected in November 2024.
On July 25, O’Dell was told to attend a meeting with Evans and City Council members Carl Harshbarger and Scott Bias. During that meeting, O’Dell says he was interrogated by the trio.
O’Dell says he was interrogated and investigated. But he says he was not given the opportunity to have counsel present, was not told the nature of the interrogation, the interrogation was not recorded or transcribed, and a threat of termination was made.
He also was placed on paid leave, and his gun and badge were confiscated. O’Dell says that constitutes punitive action. He says there have been no formal or informal written statement of charges. He also says that meeting violated the state Open Governmental Meetings Act.
The complaint says Josh Miller, O’Dell’s attorney, has made two written requests for hearings on the matter. But despite the written demands, no hearing board has been empaneled and no hearing has taken place as required by state law.
On August 5, Milton City Council met. Evans presided over the meeting and attempted to hire a new police chief, according to O’Dell’s complaint. A council member made a motion to table hiring a new chief.
The complaint says there was an impromptu discussion by other council members and the mayor before the motion was seconded.
“Mayor Evans lodged his vote before any other councilman or the recorder voted,” the complaint states. “He did it from the podium. This was clearly an attempt by the mayor to exert influence on the vote as he does not have a voting right except in instances of tie.”
The complaint also notes that Evans said he was stopping O’Dell’s wages as of August 5 but goes on to say he wouldn’t need to stop paying O’Dell on August 5 if O’Dell had resigned July 25.
“The mayor stopped Chief O’Dell’s wages being paid because up until that point, Chief O’Dell was on paid leave and he did not resign,” the complaint states.
On August 12, O’Dell issued a press release through attorneys Miller and Teresa Toriseva stating did not resign despite reports otherwise.
In exhibits attached to the complaint, Miller wrote to Evans and other Milton officials about the situation. In an August 1 letter, Miller says he also was advised that City Recorder Phyllis Smith “was stripped of her voting power.”
“If litigation on the O’Dell matter proceeds, discovery will permit investigation into the reasons she was stripped of her voting power,” Miller wrote. “All city council members will be deposed regarding this and anything else that may bear on the issues.”
The day after the August 5 City Council meeting, Miller again wrote to the city officials after he attended the meeting on behalf of O’Dell.
“The City Council meeting presided over and conducted by Mayor Shane Evans raises multiple concerns that are actionable in circuit court,” Miller wrote. “For example, Robert’s Rules of Order were violated multiple times during the motion/second/vote process, mostly those violations were committed by Mayor Evans and Councilman Harshbarger.
“When Councilman (Scott) Foster made a motion to table the hiring of a new police chief, there was impromptu discussion by other council members and the mayor before the motion was seconded which is a violation of the Rules.
“Additionally, the mayor continually stated that Chief O’Dell resigned his position. Chief O’Dell did not resign. Chief O’Dell was unlawfully terminated either by the mayor or Councilmen Harshbarger and Bias, or all three.”
Miller also wrote that after Evans said he was not answering questions from citizens, “he made comments favorable to him and answered questions he wanted to answer.”
“He (Evans) and Councilman Harshbarger stated several times that the ‘whole story’ isn’t out, referring to Kyle O’Dell,” Miller wrote. “At various times during the meeting, the mayor also stated that he would not talk about the facts of the matter unless Kyle authorized him to or Kyle’s attorney authorized him to.
“But at the end of the meeting, after the public comments, the mayor cited untruthful reasons why Kyle was terminated. The stated reasons were untruthful and slanderous against Chief O’Dell as the mayor alleged that chief engaged in unlawful conduct by executing contracts for police coverage on state road construction projects. These comments lacked any evidence and were without foundation.”
The complaint says Evans planned to appoint a new police chief at City Council’s September 2 meeting, but that didn’t happen because the candidate withdrew his name from consideration.
In the complaint, O’Dell asks the court to enjoin Evans from appointing a new chief until O’Dell is provided his statutorily required hearing.
“If the mayor and the city are permitted to hire another chief when the current chief was illegally fired, Chief O’Dell will suffer the irreparable harm stated above,” the complaint states. “After Chief O’Dell’s hearing, should this court order that he get one, it is likely to be determined he was illegally terminated and is therefore entitled to his job back. He will not be able to take that job because a new chief has been appointed.”
In the city’s response filed September 5, it says the factual and legal premise that O’Dell was entitled to a hearing is “clearly misplaced” because he fails to meet the definitions of police officer, officer or accused officer. Instead, it says O’Dell should not be included as an officer because he was the highest ranking officer of the department.
“His position is clearly excluded from the definition of ‘police officer’ or ‘officer,’” the response states. “O’Dell served at the will and pleasure of the mayor and the City of Milton, and he was not required to be given the procedural protection asserted in the complaint.”
The city also says, as a Class III municipality, the police department isn’t automatically covered under the civil service and the city “has never voted to create a police civil service.”
The city also “adamantly disputes” that the July 25 meeting can be classified as one required to be open to the public.
O’Dell is being represented by Miller and Toriseva of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. The city is being represented by Charles R. Bailey and Albert C. Dunn Jr. of Bailey & Wyant in Charleston.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 25-C-268
