Sanpete County, Utah • After listening to nearly an hour of public comment on Thursday, the Moroni City Council voted against the idea of contracting its police services to the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office.

The city’s police department has not been staffed since February, when Mayor Paul Bailey terminated Chief Bob Hill’s employment.

FOX 13 News was the first to discover Hill’s firing was due to an excessive use of force investigation. Hill said he believed the firing was actually retaliation for writing the mayor’s son a ticket.

Hill was the police department’s only employee.

To read more about the lack of police in Moroni City, visit FOX 13.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.