Lakeland Police Chief Lisa Womack has survived an effort to have her fired.
Incoming Lakeland mayor Howard Wiggs, who is a current city commissioner, asked his fellow city commissioners to ask the city manager to fire Womack. But no other commission supported his motion.
Wiggs has expressed frustration with LPD’s recent sex scandals and a grand jury investigation that was critical of Womack. That grand jury report was released by a court last week after the city had spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars to keep it from public view.
During a city commission meeting Monday, Wiggs claimed the city manager, police chief and current mayor Gow fields rejected all of the findings of the grand jury report. But Fields said that was an absolute lie. Fields said he had acknowledged some of the concerns of the grand jury report and accused Wiggs of simply not paying attention to a press conference that he had held last week.
After not getting any of his fellow commissioners to support his push to get Womack fired, Wiggs said he was dropping the idea and would try to bring commissioners together when he becomes mayor in January.
The next expected major development in the Lakeland Police story will be a public meeting Friday afternoon at city hall between Lakeland City Manager Doug Thomas and State Attorney Jerry Hill. Hill has been critical of Womack and LPD in general.