Police chief fired in Boulder City, Nev. amid nasty feud with city officials

(CBS) BOULDER CITY, Nev. - The embattled police chief of Boulder City, Nev. was fired Monday on his first day back at work after several weeks of family leave.

Tom Finn, 59, chief of the community for seven years, has been feuding with city leaders, most of whom are Mormons, for the past year, CBS affiliate KLAS reported.

Finn has previously accused Boulder City officials of conspiring to get rid of him because he does not share the same faith.

"I was fired. I got an option to resign. I turned it down. The other option was termination," Finn said.

According to KLAS, Finn knew that the day he returned to work would likely be his last, especially after he filed ethics complaints against the mayor, city manager, city attorney, and others, alleging a widespread pattern of nepotism and other transgressions.

Finn said his fate was sealed months ago when he got into arguments with Boulder City Councilman Cam Walker and Walker's friend and fellow church member attorney Stephen Stubbs, over issues that arose during a meeting of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in Boulder City.

Finn said his relationship with City Attorney Dave Olsen, also a Mormon, was previously strained because the chief had complained about a lack of DUI enforcement by Olsen's office.

Mayor Roger Tobler says city leaders were solidly in Finn's corner, even after complaints surfaced about police harassment of the Mongols during their get together last summer. However, it all changed in November when Finn filed a lawsuit and named city officials, KLAS reported.

"The first time in my 59 years that I have ever been terminated from a job," Finn told the station