TOMBSTONE, Ariz. -- More than a century after Wyatt Earp walked the streets of this fabled, ornery Old West town, Bobby Gerencser took his turn as its marshal.
Until the mayor and council fired him for insubordination.Now, Gerencser may be getting the last laugh. Or certainly, at least, some satisfaction.
He's hoping there'll be some cash, too.
A state appeals court has upheld a lower court's ruling that his July 1997 firing was invalid because former Mayor Delmas "Gene" Harper and the council violated Arizona's open meeting law.
The city of Tombstone -- once a silver mining boom town and more recently a tourist draw, thanks to Earp's 30-second gunfight at the OK Corral -- has appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court. A decision whether to hear the appeal could be months off.
Gerencser doesn't want his old job back.
He's now a Cochise County sheriff's deputy.
And guess where he's patrolling these days.
Of course. In Tombstone.
"It's my home," he said.
Gerencser said he's encountered ex-council members on occasion, including one who favored his dismissal. "I don't carry a grudge or anything," he said. "I'm still providing public service."
Gerencser was replaced as town marshal -- Tombstone's police chief -- by Max Hurlbut. When Mayor Bill Brett was elected last year, replacing Harper, he dismissed Hurlbut and named yet another new marshal.
Superior Court Judge Allen Minker and the appeals court found that the city had grounds to terminate Gerencser "but that we didn't do it right," said Tom Clark, a Tucson attorney representing Tombstone on the appeal.
Gerencser's dismissal and court fight were but another partisan battle in a series that has come to mark political life in this small town. Tombstone's unofficial motto seems to be "don't get mad, get even."
Disagreements between officeholders and constituents often have spilled over into conflicts and disputes. Since 1977, there have been four recall petition drives launched. One that targeted Harper and two others against city council members were voided on technicalities. One councilwoman was recalled.
Gerencser, 40, joined the six-member police force in 1983. He worked up through the ranks before being appointed marshal in 1992. Five years into the job, Harper and the City Council informed him in June 1997 that they would consider firing him.
The mayor accused Gerencser of insubordination and of failing to supervise his officers. Harper contended that Gerencser failed to carry out his order at a council meeting to remove audience members making noise.
But Gerencser said the city attorney advised Harper not to remove anyone and told Gerencser he'd take care of the matter.
Later, Harper also accused Gerencser of failing to prepare a statistical report for the council -- even though, Gerencser said, Harper rescinded that directive. Months later, Harper made it an issue.
On July 14, the council convened and went into a closed, executive session, referring Gerencser's job to a three-member committee of the council to hear the allegations of insubordination and incompetence.
The committee denied Gerencser's request to hold the hearing in public.
After a three-hour session, it voted 2-1 to find him guilty of insubordination and recommend firing him. The council then reconvened and approved another motion to fire Gerencser.
Minker ruled the termination void because the action violated the state's open meeting law. He also said the violation nullified the vote to fire Gerencser because the committee's and the council's actions were "part of the same meeting," which ignored open meeting requirements.
Gerencser said he had looked at being Tombstone's marshal as a career. But he said the same kind of "factions" have plagued its politics since the days of Earp.
He's excited over the appeals court's late-December decision, but "I'm tired of it," Gerencser said. "I'd like to get this over with. I felt from the very beginning it was a political act. And that's how it goes in Tombstone."