For the second consecutive city meeting, sparks flew between the North Bay Village commission and the city manager Tuesday -- this time over his handling of police matters.

Commissioner George Kane accused City Manager Matthew Schwartz of micromanaging the police department and unnecessarily meddling with internal investigations, thereby preventing the police chief from holding the reigns of his department.

``We have a professional police officer as our chief. He's not being allowed to be the chief,'' Kane said. ``We have too many decisions too closely checked by administration. That's not acceptable.''

But the city manager stood his ground.

``I will do my job -- if it's meddling or not meddling,'' Schwartz said. ``I've done nothing inappropriate.''

During the city's October meeting, commissioners bickered with Schwartz over which firm to choose for the outsourcing of the building department and accused him of having too forceful a hand in decision making.

Similar criticisms were directed at Schwartz on Tuesday, when several issues were raised for the first time.

Among them: the city manager's decision this month to suspend Sgt. Kevin Beaty, a North Bay Village police officer often praised for his dedication and by-the-book attitude. More than a dozen members of the Fraternal Order of Police, which was recently voted in as the city's police union, came to protest Beaty's suspension.

Beaty was pulled from road patrol after he was accused of ``harassing residents'' involved in an internal-affairs investigation, Schwartz said.

Another issue was Schwartz's treatment of two other officers -- Mark Weinstein and Lt. James McVay -- who were investigated after being involved in a fist fight in February. After the investigation was completed, Schwartz ignored the chief's recommended 30-day suspension and gave Weinstein, last year's officer of the year, triple that amount -- without pay.

Schwartz suspended McVay for less than a week, he said.

``It's inappropriate for the city manager to get into the discipline areas of the police department unless there's an egregious, serious oversight by the police management,'' Kane told Schwartz. ``Review of disciplinary actions by the city manager, I think, is absolutely out of line.''

Another issue Kane addressed was a months-old rumor that Schwartz plans to fire Police Chief Roland Pandolfi and replace him with McVay, who previously represented the department's recently ousted union, the Police Benevolent Association.

Kane demanded that Schwartz loosen his grip on the department and not fire Pandolfi for at least a month.

Schwartz refused. ``I'm going to tell you a little something about your city and about your police department,'' he said. ``The issues with the police department are more severe than you're aware of, unfortunately.''

Schwartz declined to offer many details about the allegation.

Kane then suggested the commission fire the manager, but the move had no support from the other four commissioners and quickly died.

Pandolfi, the chief, did not weigh in on the controversy during the meeting and could not be reached for comment.

Throughout the evening, residents and FOP attorneys badgered Schwartz, accusing him of abusing his power and threatening to sue the city with what FOP president Armando Aguilar called ``unlimited resources.''

Union attorney Anthony Livoti Jr. told Schwartz: ``Yes, city manager, you will have a fight, because you trampled and violated the Officers' Bill of Rights.''

Fearing Tuesday's two-hour scene would provide court fodder for an imminent lawsuit, Schwartz said Kane's accusations should have been addressed privately, avoiding public embarrassment.

``I find this absolutely incredible,'' Schwartz said. ``And this is one of the problems in this city: You have an opportunity to change, but you still have the same small-town mentality on this stuff.''

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