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Houston: "Let Chips Fall Where They May" As Police Chief, Top Attorney Depart

Peter Gray/WUIS

Mayor Mike Houston has announced that Springfield's Chief of Police and top legal counsel are both on their way out.  

Houston says Chief Robert Williams will take the rest of his accrued vacation time and retire in mid-October.  Corporation Counsel Mark Cullen is expected to formally submit his resignation when he returns from a vacation out of the country.

In a Friday evening interview with WUIS, Houston called for a stop to the "innuendo and rumors" he says are "floating around" in the community.  

Citing ongoing litigation, Houston also dodged and deflected questions about a scandal that began earlier this year when the Springfield Police Department decided to abruptly revise its policy concerning the timetable for destruction of public records

You can hear our interview, in its unedited entirety, here.   

DISCLAIMER -  At 19:20, reporter Peter Gray mentions a phrase (from a police internal affairs interview transcript) which may be offensive to some listeners.

Peter has a diverse background in public, independent and commercial media production. Beginning in 2011, Peter served as reporter and “Morning Edition” host for WUIS. He completed his work at WUIS in 2014. Prior to his start in public radio, he covered the Illinois legislature for NBC affiliate WANDTV-17 and helped launch Phenom Features, a non-profit apprenticeship film studio. Peter hails from Oswego, Ill., where he grew up watching WTTW-11/PBS.