Local Affairs
Every full-time police officer in Milner, Ga., has resigned, along with the city manager, after what the departing officials describe as a collapse of trust with the city’s elected leaders. The departures were announced at the Milner City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, and the police department’s last day is Oct. 28, according to local news reports.
City Manager Tausha Grose announced the police resignations at the meeting and then announced her own, CBS News Atlanta and FOX 5 Atlanta reported. Her last day is Oct. 30. Police Chief Lamar Bunn has also resigned; FOX 5 reported that he submitted his resignation the previous Friday. Most of the city’s part-time reserve officers are leaving as well, according to the reports, which did not give a number.
Milner is a city of fewer than 1,000 residents in Lamar County, about 45 miles south of Atlanta, according to Atlanta News First. Its full-time police department was small: FOX 5 reported that all five full-time officers resigned, while Atlanta News First described a five-person department that included Bunn.
What the departing officials say
Grose told the council the problem was a breakdown in trust. “The trust is gone. I have been rendered ineffective in my position,” she said, according to CBS News Atlanta. “It breaks my heart to have to resign.”
Bunn has accused Mayor Craig Timmons of placing a tracking device on his personal truck. That is an allegation, not a finding. Police1, citing a resignation letter obtained by WSB-TV, reported that the letter alleged the mayor bought the tracker with his own money, and that it also cited the “judgment and decision-making” of the mayor and certain council members. Asked about the tracker, Timmons declined to comment directly, The Herald Gazette reported, according to CBS News Atlanta. FOX 5 reported that Timmons said at the meeting that he hated to see the resignations and hoped the situation could be fixed; he did not respond to requests for interviews.
Bunn told CBS News Atlanta that he did not ask the other officers to resign with him. “If I cannot do my job, if I’m not given an opportunity to do my job with character, I can’t do it,” he said. He also said he would like to see the dispute resolved before Oct. 28: “If it can be fixed, we need to fix it.”
Workplace rules were part of the backdrop. Grose said officers could keep part-time outside jobs but had been temporarily barred from using city vehicles for that work, and FOX 5 reported disagreements over overtime. Both Grose and Bunn said those policy debates were not the reason they resigned.
Who will police the city
The reports differ on what comes next. Atlanta News First reported that the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office is expected to handle law enforcement in the city. FOX 5 reported that officials had not confirmed how Milner will provide law enforcement or handle administrative duties after the resignations take effect. One officer told CBS News Atlanta that most, if not all, of the departing officers will go to work for other agencies.
Former council member Skip Seda said he would push to unincorporate Milner if the city loses its police force. “On the day after Oct. 30, nobody’s running this city!” he said at the meeting, according to Atlanta News First.
Why it matters beyond Milner
For a city this small, the resignations remove its entire full-time police staff and its top administrator within about two weeks. Rebuilding would mean recruiting a new chief, rebuilding a patrol roster and hiring a city manager while the dispute that drove them out is unresolved. The next scheduled council meeting is Nov. 16, according to CBS News Atlanta, more than two weeks after the city manager’s last day.
Sources
- CBS News Atlanta, “Entire full-time police department resigns in Milner amid dispute with city leaders,” updated October 22, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/entire-full-time-police-department-resigns-in-milner-amid-dispute-with-city-leaders/
- FOX 5 Atlanta, “Entire police force, city manager resign in Milner,” October 20, 2026. https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/entire-police-force-city-manager-resign-milner
- Atlanta News First, “Georgia city’s entire police force resigns,” October 21, 2026. https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/10/21/georgia-citys-entire-police-force-resigns/
- Police1, “Entire Georgia police force resigns, officer cites incident where mayor allegedly tried to track chief,” October 21, 2026. https://police1.com/chiefs-sheriffs/entire-ga-pd-resigns-officer-alleges-mayor-put-tracker-on-police-chiefs-vehicle
Featured photo: City Hall in Milner, Lamar County, Ga., photographed March 15, 2020. Photo: Michael Rivera, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped from the original.
