Residents pepper Mapleton Council

MAPLETON — About 200 city residents crowded into City Hall on Wednesday night to confront city leaders over a number of unpopular decisions and allegations of misconduct contained in a newsletter that arrived at city residences last week.

The group peppered city council members and Mayor Dean Allan for nearly an hour over the January firing of popular police chief Michael Roberts, reports that a fire truck was parked in front of the mayor's home during an August wildfire on Maple Mountain rather than structures closer to the blaze, why the council appears to favor the more tony south part of the city (where most council members live) over the more modest northside and leadership's reluctance to discuss details of what they say is a "new direction" for the city's public safety programs.

The turnout was largely in response to the newsletter, put out by a group calling itself the Mapleton Coalition. The newsletter did not name any of its members. The three-page newsletter focused primarily on the firing of Roberts but also accused Allan of improperly using city travel funds and orchestrating the fire truck incident.

While the meeting was contentious, those attending seemed somewhat mollified by the responses even though Allan and the council refused to shed any new light on the reasoning behind Roberts' termination.

Allan's admission that the truck was indeed parked in front of his house for a short period appeared to crack the sense of distrust that was evident early in the meeting. Allan said he did not order the truck parked at his house and was at the fire control center and never actually saw the truck.

"I was not aware the truck was at my house," Allan responded. "I didn't know it was there or removed."

Fire Chief Dave Stewart said police directed him to park the truck at Allan's house. Stewart said the truck was at the mayor's house for about 45 minutes before being moved to a barn that was closer to the blaze.

City Attorney Gordon DuVall opened Wednesday's meeting by recapping a rebuttal of claims contained in "The Real Mapleton News" newsletter that was first issued at a special council meeting on Monday.

Government needs to be more open, said resident Lynn Griffin, who said he thought "honesty was stretched" by Allan when he initially denied the fire truck had been parked at his house during the Maple Mountain fire.

Outgoing interim Police Chief Scott Gardner, fire chief Stewart and newly appointed Ambulance Director Stephanie Olson assured residents that public safety is intact in Mapleton.