By PAIGE CARR

Staff writer

Barely four months after he was hired, full-time police officer James Taylor was terminated last week by Peabody City Council.

Council members, Mayor Larry Larsen, and police chief Bruce Burke held a special meeting March 14. After meeting for 30 minutes in executive session, Beth Peter moved to terminate Taylor. The vote was unanimous. No reasons for the action were given.

The position will first be offered to part-time officers. If none accept, the position will be advertised.

According to Mayor Larry Larsen, Taylor was studying at the police academy in Yoder and had been for several weeks.

“Some information came to city hall that was unsettling to us, and we went ahead and acted upon this information,” Larsen said.

Larsen said that the grounds for which Taylor was terminated were unrelated to anything of a criminal nature.