Rincon City Council will hear the appeal from former police chief Michael Berry on Nov. 3 after council members voted to delay the hearing during a special called meeting Monday night.

Berry’s appeal originally was scheduled to be heard Oct. 7, but his attorney, Keith Barber, out of Statesboro, asked for a continuance. In a letter to Rincon city attorney Raymond Dickey, Barber asked for more time since he had just been engaged by the former chief and needed more time to prepare.

He also asked that the interviews Dickey and Mayor Ken Lee are conducting with police personnel be completed before Berry appears before city council. Barber also asked that he and Berry be allowed to meet with Dickey and Lee to discuss the allegations.

Barber requested that the hearing be delayed until Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. Council members opted to make the appeal date Nov. 3 since not all the council members will be available for the Oct. 28 date.

Berry was fired by a city council vote Sept. 10 two nights after council members placed him on administrative leave. Council members also voted Sept. 10 to terminate Detective Scott Collins. Collins’ appeal will be held Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

The decision to put Berry on leave came after a Sept. 8 meeting that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday morning, a seven and a half hour-long session that apparently violated state open meetings statutes.

Council members also agreed Sept. 10 to have Dickey and Lee interview police department personnel to determine if there was dissension in the ranks.