Seven Points — SEVEN POINTS —  Since last week’s shout-out between a mayor, and an ex-mayor at City Hall, the latest news from Lake Cedar Creek just keeps getting stranger by the day:

• Police Chief Brad McConahay has been “separated” from his duties by Mayor Joe Dobbs, who has replaced him with a former Dallas Police Department veteran, 58-year-old Jack Nelson, who, for now, will be his Police Administrator.

 Nelson will take over the title of police chief when he receives his TCLEOSE certification in a few weeks. It ran out when he was fired by then Dallas Police Chief, David Kunkle after 29 years and 51 weeks with that agency in 2007.

• Nelson, in turn, hired Mike Tayem on Monday, his first lieutenant. Tayem is the roommate of Dobbs, and a former Seven Points police officer.

“I’m really excited we’ve got him,” Nelson said.

At issue, still, with Dobbs' political rivals, is who really has the power to do what he's been doing, mainly getting rid of two department heads without consulting the city council.

Dobbs says a 1995 ordinance gives the powers to the mayor in Seven Points.

But that's an old issue that may never be resolved, unless the council and mayor can figure out how to have an actual city council meeting.

Tayem started his career  learning the ropes by working with Nelson in Dallas.

Nelson said Monday that Mike’s head was about as hard as his desk, but that he was also one of the smartest people he’d ever known.

He also had high praise for the eight officers in the department, saying, "We've got some good people. Some of them don't have the certification they've earned. We're going to work on that."

• Nelson was a DPD patrol officer until he was fired a week shy of his 30th career anniversary.  A series of stories in Dallas and other Meteroplex publications  reported at least three internal affairs investigations and an ethics investigation at DPD, and the subsequent P.R. black eye ended Nelson's Dallas career.

"I was fired for "Adverse Conduct," he said Monday.  "None of the accusations are true, and we have a lawsuit against the officer who  made them and the department.”

Nelson said none of the accusations were true or ever proven.

The officers were working the East Dallas area at the time, and had been instructed to cut down the crime rate, Nelson said.

Former Dallas Chief of Police David Kunkle formed a panel of officers to look into  the allegations. Kunkle said at the time that the panel would look into the possibility that some of the problems arose because  some officers “simply don’t like the hard-charging style of the three.”

He also told reporters that the vast majority of officers working at Central Station didn’t like working around the three.

“They don’t like their gruff style,” he said.

Nelson said he’s mellowed over the years, and that he’s never been charged with a criminal offense in his career.

In addition, he was awarded 76 commendations while with DPD.

According to a Morning News report, Nelson has also received glowing reviews from the department for his crime-fighting prowess.

In the fall of 2006, his immediate supervisor wrote that Nelson was an “excellent, experienced leader.”

He, and the other officers have since filed libel suits against former Chief Kunkle. The case is still in the courts.

But Nelson was also on a list of 20 Dallas officers who consistently had a high number of complaints.

None of the charges were ever substantiated, Nelson said, but the number of complaints was still high.

“Anytime you work an area with a high-crime rate, and make arrests, you’re going to have a high number of complaints.,” he said.

Nelson expressed confidence Monday in the eventual success of the litigation.

“We are going to win that lawsuit,” he said Monday.

For now he’s relegated to the position of administrator of the police department by Dobbs.

He can do administrative work, but not other police duties until he gets his TCLEOSE  certification for Texas law officers.

A TCLEOSE representative was in Seven Points Monday to meet with Nelson.

“We called them to help us,” Nelson said, “They were very cooperative, and really helped us a great deal,” he said.

Nelson said the TECLEOSE representative told him it would probably be  a week to 10 days before his certification comes through.

The chief-to-be will be using that time, he said, to reorganize the police department, and to get the equipment room organized.

Under Nelson, officers will be required to wear full uniforms, and he’s already instructed them to shave their goatees.

McConahay reaction:

Outgoing chief Brad McConahay said he wasn’t at all surprised that he was terminated.

“I’m not stupid,” he said. “I could see the handwriting on the wall.”

The way Dobbs explained the McConahay termination to the Cedar Creek Pilot was like this:

“He (McConahay) was separated due to a change in the command staff.”

But McConahay said he was fingerprinting Nelson last week before Tayem was an employee of the department.

He said Dobbs told him at the time he was bringing him in to be a warrant officer.

McConahay said he and Dobbs were at the station for several hours Saturday, but that Dobbs waited until the evening to call him at his home to tell him he was being terminated.

Dobbs said that’s not true.

“I was helping a firefighter move, ‘Don Van Huss. That’s absolutely not true.

“That was when he was going to be our warrant officer.”

Pilot: “Was he ever going to be your warrant officer?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” Dobbs said.

Pilot: “What changed?”

“Lack of confidence.”

When Dobbs was asked about Nelson’s difficulties at DPD, he said he had done a thorough background check on Nelson, and had received glowing accounts from both the Dallas Police Department and from TCLEOSE,

TCLEOSE is  the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Organizatiions of Law Enforcement Standards and Education.

He was the second department head the new mayor has removed from a position since becoming mayor.

Dobbs recently removed City Secretary Debbie Mosley, and replaced her with Shirley Kirksey.

Dobbs said he continues to follow a 1995 city ordinance that gave the mayor the authority to run the city, instead of the city council.

Three of the council members have not completed a meeting since the night Dobbs was sworn in.

The mayor said Nelson has a street officer’s background, and that he has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

“He is fluent in Spanish and German,” Dobbs said. “His Spanish will help all of our officers,” Dobbs said.

“He’s got the book knowledge and experience to lower our crime rate in Seven Points.