More than a century of tradition has been erased in an Old West town of stagecoaches and gunfights in order to keep the marshal’s office free of politics.

The Tombstone City Council changed the way the city clerk and marshal can lose their jobs in an effort to “improve stability,” officials said.

In the past, the clerk and marshal lost their positions every two years after a new mayor and council took office. They’d then have to be re-appointed or a new person would be appointed and approved by council, Barnes said.

“Frankly, over time, that's caused some shenanigans,” said George Barnes, city clerk. “It’s destabilizing to some degree. If you’re the marshal, you’re looking over your shoulder all the time.”

Now, the city clerk, once appointed by council, continues the job until council decides time’s up—and they can fire them for whatever reason, “at the pleasure of the council,” Barnes said. The difference is that before the clerk would be out of a job when the council went up for re-election, he said.

“The whole goal is that some continuity will remain between administrations,” Barnes said.

Council also made sure the marshal won’t go out with the two-year political term either, Barnes said, but stipulated the council could only vote the marshal out the door “for cause,” which refers to a blanket list of 18 reasons why the city could fire someone, listed in the city’s charter.

This list includes incompetence, medical incapacitation, accepting bribes and “improper political activities.”

That makes it so the marshal can’t “easily be terminated for political zeal or anything like that,” Barnes said, something that he thinks is important for a marshal.

“Sometimes, they have to do things that are unpopular. They can come here to try to make a career, not be thrown out on the block every two years,” Barnes said.

The Marshal’s Assist Team voiced a desire for that at the Sept. 18 council meeting.
“We need continuity in the marshal’s office,” Brian Davis, a member of the Marshal’s Assist Team said at the council meeting while discussing strategies to combat drugs in town.

Mayor Jack Henderson agrees.

“We're trying to get the marshal’s department built up, so the marshal has the ability to start training programs and hire people that want to make a career in law enforcement,” Henderson said. “It’s pretty hard for somebody to take a job if their boss could be gone within a few months.”

Overall, it’s about modernization, officials said.

“It’s a purpose that mirrors many local governments,” Barnes said. “It’s kind of a simple idea that makes us grow up a little bit politically.”