TARRANT, Ala. (WIAT) — Tarrant Police Chief Wendell Major is back on the job. He was reinstated during a fiery city council meeting Monday night after being placed on leave April 26.

There was overwhelming support for Chief Major at the meeting with some angry and passionate pleas on his behalf. All five councilors voted to reinstate him effective immediately. Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton was the only vote against him.

“I’ve had the unique opportunity to not only create law but enforce law,” says Representative Allen Treadaway who showed up in support of Major. “He’s 100% correct in how he represented this city, the police department and himself [Monday night]. Makes me proud to know him.”

Treadaway went to Major’s defense in front of the city council Monday, also calling the meeting “chaos” after sitting through the heated debate.

The council worked to understand why Major was placed on administrative leave by Mayor Newton.

“The law is the law. It will be enforced, it will be obeyed and the orders of the court are what law enforcement officers enforce, the orders of the legislature are what law enforcement officers enforce, we do not enforce executive decrees that are not based in law,“ says Major.

Recordings from the magistrate’s office were played for the council to give a fuller picture of what happened the day in question.

The debate boiling down to whether or not an inmate should have been released on bond without the magistrate’s signature on necessary paperwork.

“I think they will find that the police department in the city of Tarrant has operated in an above-board, within the law, and with their best interest at heart,” says Major. “If we have missed the mark, we will point that out, we will correct it and we will move forward to protect the people of this state.”

People from Tarrant also addressing the council on Major’s behalf, saying the mayor’s decision to place the chief on leave was “childish and petty”.

“I mean I’ve been here through the n-word fiasco and everything else, all the way up until the slap,” says Waynette Bonham with the Tarrant City Crime Commission. “I really wish they would consider growing up or consider a conflict resolution course that includes the city council as well as the police.“

Mayor Newton as well as Tarrant council members declined to comment.