Glasgow Central Ward city councilman Jeff Parks was officially censured by the city’s Board of Aldermen on Thursday, July 23. The action came during a special meeting called to address Parks’s behavior during a series of angry and possibly threatening expletive-laden phone calls to Glasgow Chief of Police T.J. Livermore over the previous weekend.

An audio recording of the meeting is available above. WARNING: It contains explicit language.

Chief Livermore brought a thick file to the meeting, which he said details multiple encounters with Parks, but Mayor Don Clear kept the discussion to only the events that took place during the weekend starting Friday, July 17. The mayor said that other complaints of alleged harassment can be discussed at a future meeting with a designated agenda item.

Livermore said the weekend’s problems began on Friday with a dispatch call relating to a domestic issue. Another call was made on Saturday. Livermore said a chance encounter at a local convenience store with Parks’s domestic partner, Rachel Hawkins, on Saturday later led to threatening phone calls to him from Parks.

“I get a call from Mr. Parks, and he’s calling me, saying he’s going to beat my ass, stay away from my old lady, yada, yada, yada,” Chief Livermore told the council.

Livermore recorded two subsequent phone calls from Parks that same night. He played the recordings during Thursday’s special meeting. During playback of the night’s second call, which was the first to be recorded, Parks can be heard stating, “If you come on my property, yeah, I’ll beat the f**k out of you.” He also called Livermore a “fat greasy pig,” among other various fecal-based expletives, before hanging up.

A third phone call, which was the second to be recorded, was a disagreement over a hand gesture Parks allegedly made to Livermore as the police chief was driving past Parks’s house. Parks denies he made the gesture.

Parks could be heard continuing to shout expletives at Chief Livermore during the phone call and stated, “You quit spreading b******t about me or you’re going to get hemmed up.”

When Livermore asked what Parks meant by “hemmed up,” Parks remarked, “F**k you. You know what it means.”

That meaning of the phrase, “hemmed up,” was discussed among council members and was deemed to be threatening language. Athlough Parks said it means to face legal consequences.

Chief Livermore said he wanted the council to know this is an ongoing issue. “I’ve tried to make peace with Mr. Parks, but it does no good,” he said.

Livermore asked the council to address the matter and squash it. “It makes it hard for me to do my job with a city council member out there making threats, calling me corrupt, and accusing me of stealing hours, which all, of course, is absurd.”

Parks accused Chief Livermore of interfering with a parental issue, detailing a story that he related secondhand, which apparently occurred shortly before the aforementioned phone calls. “This is all right before I call him,” Parks said.

Parks continued with a number of expletives during his explanation to the council, for which he was admonished.

“I call up Chief Livermore. Because he’s a dude screwing with my family and telling lies at this point,” Parks continued. He said the council knows some of his concerns with the police administration.

The council’s Mayor Pro Tem, Renna Bean, explained that on the Saturday night in question, she spoke with Chief Livermore after his first phone call from Parks and advised him to record any future calls, of which there were two.

“Jeff, you and I have always had a pretty good relationship,” Bean said across the table. “But I can’t take up for you this time. This is wrong. I have never, ever heard anybody speak to anyone like you spoke to him on the phone the other night. You can’t act like that, especially as a city alderman towards an employee. And the words you used and the manner, I mean, it scared me. I thought you were coming after him.”

Bean said Parks’s anger does not justify the behavior and the language used during those phone calls.

“I could have found him,” Parks later replied. Then rising and turning to Chief Livermore, Parks shouted, “I could have found you!”

Another outburst commenced moments later, and Parks was nearly removed by a Glasgow police officer before Mayor Clear gave Parks a final chance to settle down.

“I'm trying to give you the benefit to represent yourself,” Mayor Clear said to Parks.

Dissatisfaction was expressed by other members of the city council, noting that it reflects poorly on the entire town. South Ward Alderman Alan Cofer said he was disappointed in both parties.

North Ward Alderwoman Miriam Gebhardt said she was deeply disappointed and disgusted. Fellow North Ward Alderwoman Megan Watts called the behavior “completely out of line.”

“We, as a council and as individuals, have seen things that you have said previous to this. And now we have this instance,” Watts said. “I’m sorry, but that’s not how anyone should act.”

Parks later said he considered “this business outside the scope of this council.” The other alderpersons disagreed.

South Ward Alderman Ryin Roberts, who spoke with Parks on the same night that the phone calls took place, said it sounded as if both parties had a tough day. “Our leaders need to be de-escalating.” To Parks, he said there was no cause to make those calls and use that vulgarity. To Chief Livermore, he said there was no cause to “approach his old lady” at the grocery store.

“Can we get past this? Or are we going to end up in this conversation again?” Roberts asked.

The answer, apparently, was “no.” Prompting Watts to motion that the city adopt a resolution formally censuring Parks “for conduct to be inconsistent with the professional standards expected of members of the Board of Aldermen” (see above). Roberts seconded the motion, and it was approved by each alderperson except for Parks, who abstained.

Parks then motioned that the council go into closed session to further discuss his issues with Chief Livermore. The motion passed 5-1, with Watts voting against.

The incident for which Parks was censured does not represent his first brush-up against law enforcement. He mounted a campaign in Fayette, where he owns a liquor store, against a proposed sales tax for the police department. Most recently, he allegedly became violent during an interaction with police and jail personnel in Morgan County following a traffic stop on December 31, 2025. He now faces a felony and three misdemeanors. A trial is scheduled to start in April 2027.