Taylortown — Tim Blakeley, police chief of the tiny Moore County town of Taylortown, was out of a job Wednesday—or not.

Blakeley said he was told Wednesday night that two town council members had voted with absentee ballots for a closed-door meeting to keep the police chief on the job. Two members who were present voted to fire him, Blakeley said.

The chief said Mayor Ulysses S.G. Barrett Jr. told him that he, too voted to fire Blakeley. The chief said the mayor told him that he believed the chief had been fired.

Blakeley said he was not going to clean out his office in the tiny town Wednesday night, however, because he did not believe the mayor actually voted. He said he wanted to verify the vote Thursday.

State Bureau of Investigation agents arrested the mayor Feb. 22 on misdemeanor charges that he violated state laws barring public officers or employees benefiting from public contracts and mayors and councilmen acting as managers.

Barrett, mayor for 14 years, is accused of receiving thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for contracts he had with the town. He has refused to speak to reporters.

Blakeley and Barrett have not had a happy relationship of late, the chief said earlier this week.

"He also made the statement he did not trust me, did not trust law enforcement officers in general, and would not ride in the same car with me," the chief said.