A man from Centralia responds, after having his lawsuit against current Centralia City Manager Dan Ramey thrown out by the Marion County Court last week. Centralia resident Vernell Burris filed his complaint inside the US District Court in East St. Louis. A circuit court judge dismissed Burris’ lawsuit last week, saying that under the Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, Ramey has absolute immunity from civil claims. Burris claimed that Ramey’s policies and leadership as city manager has resulted in a violation of his civil rights and also that there was an increase in violent and lawless actions of criminals in Centralia. Burris filed his suit, in response to the city’s failure to hire more police officers. In his suit, Burris claimed that there was sufficient funds in the budget to cover additional officers and extra manpower, which is necessary to reduce the city’s increased crime rate. There are currently 23 police officers staffed at the Centralia Police Department, which also includes Police Chief Brian Atchison. This was after one officer recently resigned to work as a dispatcher. According to the circuit court records, Ramey will be resigning from his position as City Manager at the end of this month. Ramey announced that he intends to retire in January 2018 last year.