LANCASTER, S.C. — Lancaster Interim Police Chief Phillip Hall is officially retiring from his role, a decision he announced at Tuesday night's City Council meeting. He will effectively leave the Lancaster Police Department on March 2.
Lancaster City Administrator Flip Hutfles confirmed Hall's last day as interim chief was Thursday. Hutfles said he’s waiving the 30-day notice requirement.
“Capt. Hall stayed his course, he ran his course numerous times, and he deserved his retirement and start earning the rest that he deserves," Hutfles said.
Lt. Brian Small has been named as the new interim chief. He was the special operation division commander before becoming interim chief.
In an interview with WCNC Charlotte on Wednesday, Hall said he made the decision after Lancaster City Council voted to hire an outside consulting firm to search for a permanent chief instead of giving the job to him.
"I felt like I got slapped in the face," Hall said. "The dedication that I’ve given to this department, time that I’ve spent away from my family – it’s all in vain now."
During the heated council meeting, Councilmember Gonzie Mackey also said he was resigning immediately, saying the Council had mistreated Hall, declaring he would not come back to the next Council meeting.
Hall was made interim chief after the previous chief, Scott Grant, was fired in May 2021.
The citizen comment period showed support for Hall. One woman who said she's seen Hall grow up started off by saying he should be police chief and that paying $25,000 for a consultant team to find a new chief was ridiculous; during its meeting on Feb. 8, the City Council voted to approve paying a third-party firm to conduct a nationwide search for the department's next chief.
Hall said the funds would be better used paying officers, adding that morale is low at the police department, and there are 13 openings out of 52 positions.
"These guys do work 14 days in a row, paycheck to paycheck. Every once in a blue moon they’ll get a day off," said Hall. "Council even had to add more money to my overtime budget because of all the overtime we’re working due to the short staff."
Another woman also claimed City Council was moving inefficiently, railing the price tag on the consultants. Yet another woman said most of Lancaster's officers were looking for jobs elsewhere, and that only two councilmembers really did understand what goes into both management and law enforcement. Another man also railed against the Council for not making Hall the permanent chief and said the Council had failed to do their jobs by not moving forward with this.
One woman toward the end of the meeting said the Council should not have been in this position if Grant had supposedly done his job, but also spoke to Hall's supporters, accusing them of not showing up at previous Council meetings while herself and others have been consistently engaging. She also accused Grant of riling up supporters for Hall.
After citizen comments wrapped up, Mackey took to the microphone for employee comments. He said he had not been at Council meetings because the Council had done many things he had disagreed with.
"When you look at the back of me tonight, you won't see the front of me coming back through this door anymore," he said, as he stood up and pointed to Hall in the audience. "I don't like the way that man has been treated."
Hall's supporters applauded Mackey as he left. The quorum was still maintained with five of seven Council members present. That was when Hall took the podium and made his announcement as the final employee comment of the night. He opened up saying his family shouldn't have had to witness the ordeal as someone cried in the background.
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"Me and Mr. Mackey's on the same page. I gave this department 26 years," he said tearfully. "I have bled, I have gotten shot at, I've been stabbed, I've been ran over. That's part of the job, I understand that. But when I've got guys that work for me, that depend on me to try and lead them, and I look upon y'all to lead this city, and I have no leadership."
Hall then read his letter, saying he had done all he could to serve the city of Lancaster with support from his community, family, church, and faith. But he shared his frustrations, and he accused the Council of destroying the department. He then said he had submitted his retirement packet to the state of South Carolina, confirming his April 1 retirement date.
"Good luck to you all, good luck to the city, good luck to all the city employees, and good luck to whoever chooses to take this position," he closed, with applause following.
In an interview with WCNC Charlotte, Lancaster Mayor Alston DeVenny said Hall was still in the running for the permanent chief position until he resigned on Tues
day night. Devenny said he voted in support of hiring a firm to search for candidates because the council was unable to come to an agreement on the next chief.
“[We] couldn’t get there through the normal process," DeVenny said. "It seemed to me that Council as a whole needed some guidance and reassurance that we’re reaching out to the best candidates that are available.”
WCNC Charlotte reached out to all of Lancaster's city councilmembers for comment, but has not heard back.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.