Former mayor Dustin Escapule announced to the crowd of residents who were gathered at Schieffelin Hall that he had signed a 'personnel action form' to place former marshal Larry Talvy in the position of deputy marshal.

The Tombstone city charter, however, states that the only official who may appoint deputies to the marshal's department is the marshal himself, which would then be verified by the police commission.

While the new marshal quickly overturned Escapule's parting move, all might not be over for Talvy.

According to Mayor Jack Henderson, Talvy sent the city a letter this week asking for a job.

Henderson said that letter will be reviewed.

The Talvy rollercoaster ride began shortly after Escapule pounded the gavel calling his last council meeting to order.

He announced his decision, and quickly left, shaking Henderson's hand before leaving the hall.

Escapule repeatedly explained that he was, "through with politics," and that the personnel action form was not worthy of headlines.

"It's not a big issue," Escapule reluctantly explained outside the hall. "It may be for somebody else, but to me, it's not a big deal. He (Talvy) was a deputy marshal when he started, and I didn't feel it was right for him to be kicked out
of his job. He went back to a deputy marshal."

Escapule refused to answer any further questions on the issue, citing Talvy's civil rights.

Newly sworn-in council members and marshal Billy Cloud were left in shock.

"I was surprised," said Ward 4 councilman Randy Davis. "It was not on the agenda, and legally, you can't discuss or do anything not on the agenda."

Henderson, who did not hear the announcement prior to being sworn in, was just as surprised when he heard about the outgoing mayor's action, but felt the move was relatively insignificant.

"The mayor can't do it, as far as I can tell. You can appoint the marshal, and he appoints his deputies," Henderson explained. "It wasn't voted on, as far as I know. I think he just did it. It was a nice gesture, but I don't think it was a valid gesture."

For Marshal Cloud, the ex-mayor's final political move was somewhat expected, thanks to early preparation.

"Because of the history of this town, I wasn't surprised that somebody had attempted to do this action," Cloud said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I had prepared for a lot of eventualities for the night of the swearing in. I'm not gonna sit here and berate Mayor Escapule or Marshal Talvy, they just tried to make something work, and it didn't work," he said.

Though the initial shock lasted through the night, Cloud met with Talvy the next morning, explaining that the actions of Escapule were done inappropriately and that the former mayor was, "in no position to appoint him as a deputy marshal."

"Marshal Talvy and I talked about it at length," Cloud said. "I told him that I believed it was not done appropriately or lawfully, and it's very, very important that we follow those guidelines when appointing a law enforcement person."

Cloud, who lost his bid for marshal to Talvy just two years before, told the ex-marshal that two positions are currently open in the marshal's office.

However, funding would play a large role in the determination of how many positions would be filled. Talvy was told that he could apply for one of these positions, through the proper process.

"He and I discussed other options that might be viable for him in other agencies, and he seemed pretty open to those ideas," Cloud said of
the meeting.

"He said he's got to talk it over with his family, discuss what their
options are, what he wants to do. I did tell him that there is no animosity, this is not a politically based or biased decision, it was just based on my judiciary
responsibilities as marshal to make sure that if we're doing appointments, they're done properly," he said.

Because the marshal's appointment ends after each election, the question has arisen of whether or not the marshal's term should be extended past that of elected officials.

Henderson explained that he and his staff have flirted with the idea of making the term longer, but that the issue was not pressing.

"It's not on the front burner, but I think it's something I think we need to look at," Henderson said. "It's a system that probably could be modified to put more consistency into the marshal's office. I think that if the marshal's doing an excellent job, there shouldn't be a turnover."

Though Talvy did have projects he was working on until the day he was replaced, Henderson said that Talvy was not asked to continue his work based upon the lack of experience and a failure to provide a resume.

"We asked for resumes, and at that time, the current marshal was reluctant to give us a resume. It's real hard to judge the qualifications of somebody without their resume and something you can check," Henderson sighed, resting his hands upon his cane.

"He's a nice man, he did a good job, but with more experience, he would have done a lot better job. It took him a long time to file reports. The last report was a felony assault in January and he filed it a couple of days before he was going to be replaced. That's just too long," he said.

Regardless of the mayor's feelings toward Talvy's job performance, Cloud explained that he had always had a good relationship with Talvy.

He denied any thoughts of corruption coming from Escapule's last act as mayor.

"I understand the reasoning behind it, anybody would fight for their job," Cloud said. "Not that there was any nefarious act, it was just Mayor Escapule taking care of somebody he believed should remain in law enforcement here."

"It's not that I disagree with him staying in law enforcement, but we needed to do it appropriately. It really is nothing more than that," he said.