Tuesday, December 7, 2004 11:43 AM CST
Police chief hiring dispute shows why city needs manager
BY BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
From the reactions of some people, you would think the St. Louis Cardinals had just hired Ernie Banks to be their new manager.
Or, George Bush had appointed Bill Clinton as U.S. attorney general.
I'm referring to the decision by Charleston City Manager Scott Smith to hire a Wisconsin police chief to be the new chief of police in Charleston.
To some, the hiring would be like the Cardinals going outside the organization to hire a manager or Bush hiring Clinton to a Cabinet post.
Some people, including members of the city's police department, believe that the person who replaces retiring police Chief Ted Ghibellini should come from within the department.
That's the way it has been done in the police department for at least the last 30 years. And that's probably one reason that some people in the community are up in arms over the hiring of a Wisconsin man as Charleston's next police chief.
A selection committee consisting of City Manager Scott Smith, Mayor Dan Cougill, Council member Larry Rennels and Human Resources Director Dustha Goddard pored through the more than 40 applications before hiring Paul Welch as the next police chief.
The remaining three City Council members also met with the finalists for the position.
My understanding is that the City Council members were not in agreement on which applicant from the police department should have been hired. The three council members who were not on the search committee also met with the finalists and, apparently, each supported a different local applicant for police chief.
Welch has been chief of police in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., for the past six years. He has 34 years of experience in police work, including 24 years as a chief of police.
The man appears to be qualified. Let's not assume that he won't be a good chief of police.
But I, too, was surprised to learn that Charleston's next police chief would not be elevated from within the department.
That's the way most city hirings -- especially in the police department -- have been handled for years.
The Charleston City Code recommends in-house promotions "whenever possible," and if a qualified individual applies for the job.
I don't claim to know any of the four candidates from the police department well but am not aware of anything that would have precluded any of the four from serving as chief. The two that I know best are well-qualified, I believe.
But my biggest question about the hiring is with the process.
I understand that under the council/manager form of government the city manager has the final say.
I have no problem with that. City managers are trained and educated administrators. They have the responsibility of running the city on a day-to-day basis. They should have the authority to hire the individual who will report to them.
The City Council does not hire and fire the police chief or manage the police department.
But when Bill Riebe resigned as city manager in August 2003, we were told that the city could not search for a new city manager because no one of quality would apply to be city manager when a city election would be held in April 2005. Because city managers are hired and fired by city councils, a new council could decide to replace the city manager after he/she had been here less than two years.
I may not agree but I accept their argument.
Which brings up my question:
If the police chief is hired and fired by the city manager and if the city manager could be changed after the April election, why try to hire a new police chief now? Might a new city manager want to make a change in the police department next spring?
What's that, you say? We don't know for sure that the city manager position will be switched next year? So if that is the case, then why didn't the City Council hire a city manager to replace Riebe in 2003?
I have nothing against Scott Smith. But Scott is a Recreation Department director by education and training, not a city manager.
Because he lacks the training, I wouldn't expect Scott Smith to be named police chief nor would I expect outgoing police Chief Ted Ghibellini to be named city manager next spring.
When the people of Charleston voted for a city manager form of government, I believe they wanted a professional to manage the city. That means a trained and educated city manager.
Charleston has a lousy track record with city managers. Charleston has had five city managers and four interim city managers in less than eight years of this form of government.
If any members of the City Council are unhappy about the police chief hiring, they should share some of the responsibility. This council decided not to conduct a city manager search when it had the chance in August 2003.
Charleston's priority ought to be finding a city manager who can do a professional job of managing the city -- and hiring department heads.
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