CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — Just one day after the Circleville Police Department placed acting Deputy Chief was put on administrative leave due to misconduct allegations, a Circleville City Council member is speaking out.

Councilmember Zack Brooks represents Circleville’s third ward. He said he learned about acting Deputy Chief Jon Farrelly’s leave on Wednesday with the rest of the city’s population. Circleville police announced the decision via Facebook.

Police said Farrelly’s leave is part of an ongoing investigation. Brooks shared what police told him Farrelly is accused of.

“There was a report made by a citizen that the acting Deputy Chief of Police had solicited her for some kind of prostitution while in uniform,” Brooks said. “So obviously that’s kind of a startling accusation.”

This comes just months after Circleville’s Chief of Police Shawn Baer was escorted off the property and put on leave in March. Just weeks later, acting Police Chief Doug Davis was also placed on leave. Both were accused of misconduct and harassment and they both voluntarily resigned in April, receiving around $70,000 each in their separation agreements.

Brooks said he was unhappy with how the situation was handled in April, but the department was earning the public’s trust back when the news about Farrelly broke.

“It obviously brings a lot of uncertainty back to our police department, especially at a time when we were kind of starting to get back to a place of normalcy,” said Brooks.

The councilmember said he wants people to know that the Circleville officers can still be trusted, even as the department deals with yet another scandal this year.

“We have a lot of really good men and women who are trying to do the best job they can and it’s just a shame that the leadership has had so many issues and kind of (dragged) their name through the mud, so to say,” said Brooks.

The news about Farrelly came as a shock to Brooks. Now, he said he wants open communication from the city and the police department, both for himself and the people of Circleville.

“I just hope for transparency,” Brooks said. “I hope for regular updates from the administration and just to kind of keep everybody in the loop so that the people of Circleville know that something is being done about this and it’s not just going to be thrown out, kind of like the last case was.”

Councilmember Brooks said he believes acting Police Chief Kenny Fisher is handling this situation well. He also said the city is in the process of hiring an outside consultant to do a review of the Circleville Police Department.