Plea to keep order in a city hall lobby

A Walhalla water customer was accused this week of speaking harshly to a counter clerk at city hall.  The incident, witnessed by the city’s recreation director, prompted a discussion at the council meeting table last evening about measures that can be taken to de-escalate situations in which a utility customer is angry and is venting that anger toward a city hall employee who has no role in what happened to anger the bill payer.  John Galbreath, the recreation director, happened to be in the lobby at the time, and he told the mayor and council it made him angry to witness how the customer treated the city hall worker.  Police Chief Brinson says, at a moment’s call, his department is willing to respond to such incidents and would go into them with the purpose of de-escalating the situation.  De-escalating angry outbursts is a prime duty of the police.  Brinson suggests that training in de-escalation, the type of which police officers routinely take, is something that might benefit other city workers.