It’s not set in stone, but Redmond could have a new police chief by next May, according to Redmond Mayor John Marchione.
Former longtime Police Chief Steve Harris retired at the end of March after 28 years of service to the Redmond community. Fire Chief Tim Fuller has served as the interim police chief as the city works to hire its next top cop.
Currently the city’s human resources department is “going through an exercise in defining what do we want in our police department in the long-range future and what kind of police chief do we need to take us there,” Marchione said.
“Chief Harris served Redmond very well and his legacy will continue to live on, but what do we want to do for the next 28 years?,” Marchione explained. “This is a time to reflect, ‘Where is our community and where is our community going?’”
As part of that exercise, the mayor said the city will conduct focus groups with “neighborhood watch captains, the community policing advisory board, the civil service commission and businesses.”
The mayor and officials from the human resources department will present this planned process to the Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by City Councilmember David Carson, later this month. Then in October, the mayor will present a staff report to the City Council with results of the process.
The city will begin a nation-wide search in November.
“Tentatively, we have the job closing at the end of January (2010), with the review process in February and March and ideally, we may have a chief by May,” said Marchione.
The search for the new police chief will be conducted by the city’s human resources department and not by a specialized search firm, he added.
“We feel we will get a better bang for our buck instead of paying an outside consultant,” he said.
Marchione did stress that the hiring schedule for the new police chief is subject to change.
“It’s more important to hire the right person than to hire quickly,” he said. “So if we don’t find the right person with that schedule, I’d rather take more time in finding that person.”
So what qualities does the mayor want to see in the new police chief?
“The next police chief will be a leader with ties to various groups within the community,” Marchione replied. In addition, the new police chief “will also be an organizational leader who will continue to inspire our department personnel… they have to be skilled in both technology and people.”
The mayor said Chief Fuller has done “an excellent job” as the interim police chief and has provided “an invaluable service being the interim chief and allowing a transition.”
Redmond Assistant Police Chief Larry Gainer and Commander Shari Shovlin will be speaking at the Redmond Senior Center (RSC) Oct. 2 from 10-11 a.m. as part of the center’s new “First Friday Chats,” which feature a different city official each month to educate the public about city functions.
Chief Gainer and Commander Shovlin will discuss policing in Redmond, but participants may also have questions or want to offer suggestions about the qualities they would like to see in the new police chief.
