Moroni city council rejects contracting with sheriff's office after mayor fires police chief

MORONI, Sanpete County — Moroni had no officers patrolling its streets Friday, one day after the city council rejected a plan to bring in outside help and one month after the former police chief says he was fired after pulling over the mayor's son.

In the small city of Moroni, Sanpete County, there's never been more than a few police officers on patrol. And for the last month, there's been zero.

"I wanted to be in a town where you can make a difference," said Bob Hill, former police chief and sole officer on Moroni's police force. "I was warned by the past police officers that worked here that the first time I do something that upsets the mayor, he's going to fire me."

Hill says he is a fireman, a paramedic, with years of experience serving in the military. Moroni's Mayor hired him to take on the one-officer police department in October 2020, with limited experience in law enforcement.

"There was no bigger supporter of our chief than me," said Mayor Paul Bailey, who hired Hill. "He did a great job and I kept telling him over the last year he did a great job. Until he didn't."

Bailey — who also served as a deputy for the Sanpete County Sheriff's Office until his retirement last week — says he did not need a reason to terminate Hill, and Hill says no reason was given during their meeting on Feb. 18.

But Hill says he believes he knows the reason.

"I believe that's exactly what happened. I gave his boy a citation and the mayor fired me for it."

It happened while Hill was on patrol on Super Bowl Sunday.

"I didn't know when I made the stop who it was. But once I went up to him, he made it very clear who he was and what his expectations were of me," Hill said.

Hill said he was going to give him a warning, "But when he started telling me that professional courtesy or he doesn't deserve or shouldn't have to get a ticket, and that if I were to give him a ticket, his dad's not going to back me up on the next calls. He just had a few things basically that were very inappropriate and basically talked himself into a ticket."

Bailey dismissed the claim that his son's ticket had anything to do with Hill's firing.

"That's funny because he stopped him probably four or five months ago and gave him a citation," Bailey said.

In an interview with KSL-TV's Matt Rascon, Bailey said he had received numerous complaints about Hill over the last year. Though he acknowledged only two complaints had been filed against the former chief, alleging excessive force during two different arrests.

Bailey said he couldn't speak about the complaints.

KSL obtained the incident report for one of the arrests.

Hill pulled over a woman who had a suspended drivers license and three warrants. He said he had given her a warning during a previous encounter, but decided this time to make an arrest. He says she remained calm until she got out of the vehicle.

"I believe she had a panic attack. Started screaming, 'I can't go, I can't go.' Tried getting back in the vehicle."

Hill said she then lunged toward the road and "she was taken down to the ground using her own momentum."

Bailey arrived at the same call as a Sanpete County Sheriff deputy to back up Hill.

"The difference is when the mayor showed up on this call, he wouldn't even look at me. He wouldn't talk to me," Hill said. "You could tell something wasn't right."

Hill stands by his actions during the arrest, which came only hours after he pulled over Bailey's son and cited him.

The next day, Hill said Bailey placed him on administrative leave, noting a complaint of excessive force that had been made against him. He was asked to turn in his gun and badge during the review of his actions.

Bailey says he counseled with the attorney and county sheriff. He met with the city council. And on Friday, Feb. 18, he let him go.

The situation opened the door to another debate over how to patrol the city.

Bailey supports a proposal for the city to contract with the Sanpete County Sheriff's Office. This would involve the Sheriff's Office hiring and assigning a deputy to cover Moroni for a certain number of hours a day.

Residents crowded into Moroni City Hall Thursday for a city council meeting that included a vote on the county proposal.

Hill's supporters jumped at the opportunity to defend him.

"I've almost been hit by a school bus. Four kids trying to cross. Thank God Bob was there," the school crossing guard told the mayor and council.

"I firmly believe that the best option for the safety of Moroni City is to have Bob Hill be the chief of police," said one man.

Others took out their frustration on Bailey.

"You dropped the ball completely on that. I mean, you fired him on hearsay basically," another man said.

More than one resident asked him to resign.

"If we have a situation where Bob can't work or won't work for the mayor, then I think the mayor needs to step aside because we need Bob," a woman said.

"I knew it was going to be a lot of mudslinging at me," Bailey told KSL. "Because I'm the one who had to ultimately let the chief go."

On the topic of bringing in Sanpete County deputies, most people who spoke during public comment opposed the move.

"If I'm going to pay more in taxes, I would rather invest in Moroni's future than the county's priorities," said one man.

Another man said, "I do also believe that the citizens of Moroni would be better served with an officer here in town, even if that means cooperating with Fountain Green."

Few expressed support for the plan.

"We need to consider the high turnover. Every time we train somebody and they leave, that's money out of this community," a woman told city leaders. "There's a lot of training the county puts their deputies through, and that would be a great resource to our community."

One man criticized the work of Hill, accusing him of inciting fear in residents.

"I, for one, think we need to contract with the people who have the resources, which is the county," he said.

After listening to public comment, Sanpete County Sheriff Jared Buchanan told the residents, "I just want Moroni to have good law enforcement services. I believe the county can provide that. And if you guys go with the other option, I want to make sure you guys understand you need to go all in and hire enough law enforcement to hire your own police department and not just one. So, whatever you choose."

Applause followed his comments.

Bailey made his final pitch to adopt the proposal. But in a surprise outcome, the city council voted to reject the plan, 3 to 2.

Bailey still thinks bringing in help from the county is the best option. And he said he doesn't regret letting Hill go.

"I would do it all over again. No question. It was the right decision to make," he said.

For now, sheriff's deputies will respond to calls coming out of Moroni. But response times could be much longer because they won't have any assigned deputies to the area.

In the meantime, Bailey said the city will look to hire multiple officers. He warned residents would have to pay more to afford it.

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