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Public commenter accuses Mayor Palguta of past disciplinary actions; mayor disputes the claims
Summary
At the Sept. 9 council meeting, Steve Caros used public comment to allege multiple disciplinary actions against Mayor Kell Palguta from his law-enforcement career; Mayor Palguta rejected the accusations from the dais and no formal investigation or council action was announced.
Prescott Valley — During the Town Council’s public-comment period on Sept. 9, 2026, Steve Caros of Stronghold Ranch publicly accused Mayor Kell Palguta of having received multiple disciplinary actions while serving as a police officer and said Palguta had ‘‘submitted retirement paperwork, avoiding the full investigation.’’
Caros used the allotted public-comment time to say he was speaking as a retired police officer and to defend law-enforcement ethics. He alleged four ‘‘extremely serious violations of policy and procedure’’ against Palguta, said Palguta had been demoted and asserted Palguta ‘‘submitted retirement paperwork, avoiding the full investigation.’’
Mayor Palguta responded from the dais, saying, in part, "Well, I guess everyone can just get up to the microphone and just make things up, so." The transcript records no other councilmember statements, no supporting documentation presented by the commenter at the meeting, and no motion or formal direction to staff to investigate the allegations during the session.
The allegations reported at the meeting are claims made publicly by a resident; they were not substantiated in the council meeting record. The council did not announce any follow-up action or administrative review during the meeting.
