SANTA MARIA - Santa Maria's embattled police chief got support from some in the community at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.
Those opposed to Macagni staying in his job remain steadfast and were also heard by the council.
The public comment period at Tuesday night's Santa Maria City Council meeting was dominated by those expressing support for SMPD Chief Dan Macagni.
The chief also heard from officers in his department who urged the City Council to make a change at the top.
It's the latest development in the aftermath of the deadly police shooting in late January that killed Officer Albert Covarrubias Jr.
It was Chief Macagni's decision to try and arrest Covarrubias while he was on duty on charges of having a sexual relationship with a 17 year old girl.
Covarrubias resisted the arrest and police say when he fired his weapon during a scuffle with the arresting officers, another officer, and his best friend on the force returned fire with a shot that killed Covarrubias.
At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, a cross-section of the Santa Maria community came before the city council to voice their individual support for Santa Maria Police Chief Dan Macagni during what the chief has labeled as one of the most challenging times in the history of the department.
The majority spoke in support of Chief Macagni in the aftermath of a vote of no confidence in the chief by two-thirds of the members of the Santa Maria Police Officers Association.
Many of those who spoke said the SMPOA has long held a grudge against Chief Macagni and is using the Covarrubias shooting to forward its agenda to remove him from his job.
POA members say it's not about the Covarrubias tragedy.
They say it's about a genuine lack of trust in Chief Macagni's leadership by a majority of the men and women who work for him.
"I've known a lot of police chiefs, I've known sheriff's, I've known a lot of law enforcement people", said Santa Maria resident Jim Glines during the public comment period, "I want to tell you this tonight from the bottom of my heart, if my family, God forbid is ever held hostage, and I've got a wife, or a child or a grandchild, I want chief Macagni coming through that door, that I can promise you."
"I just hope that we can get back to what Santa Maria used to be like", said Santa Maria resident Wanda McDonald, "I was born and raised here, I'm a fifth generation Santa Marian, and I really would like to see this issue be put to rest, and you don't have to love your boss."
"We believe this is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed", said SMPD Officer and SMPOA Board Member Mike Wheeler, "I've seen the decline in the morale of this police department over the nearly seven years that I have been a police officer here, I joined the SMPOA Board over a year ago because I wanted to do my part to make this a better place to work and that's my agenda."
The City Council took no action after the public comment period.
City Manager Rick Haydon, who has final authority over the hiring and firing of all city department heads, has already expressed his confidence in Chief Macagni's ability to steer the police department through what he's calling a crisis.
Last week SMPD was cleared by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's office in another deadly officer-involved shooting of a known gang member and suspected drug dealer last December, the DA ruling the shooting was lawful.
The Santa Maria city administration is awaiting results from two third party investigations into the deadly shooting of Officer Albert Covarrubias Jr., as well as an independent audit of the police department's policies, training practices and procedures.
