TIOGA — A contentious and controversial meeting ended with the acceptance of multiple resignations from Tioga Borough, following a week that cast the small town into the national spotlight following the hiring of Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014.

The resignations of borough council members Steve Hazlett, who served as president, and his wife, Marybess Hazlett, were accepted. Borough solicitor Jeffrey Loomis and borough code enforcer Andre Reed also resigned.

The process to accept the resignations was contentious throughout the 10-minute meeting. The meeting started with Bob Wheeler, who was vice president prior to the resignation of Hazlett and would’ve become the new borough president, giving up the proverbial gavel to pro tempore Holly Irwin after being asked to by council members Bill Preston and Al Brooks.

Complaints over the legality of changing the agenda at the meeting were met by Brooks asserting the Pennsylvania Borough Code allowed them to do it, causing Wheeler to stand up and storm off to the applause of the approximately 80 people in attendance.

Following Wheeler’s self-removal, the remaining council members, Brooks, Irwin and Preston, voted to accept all the resignations at once. Irwin voted “no” because she did not have the physical copies of the resignation letters for anyone but Loehmann in front of her. Brooks and Preston voted “yes.”

Full story to come.