Winslow's Police Chief selection - a process report

City Administrator Don McDaniel told City Council October 10 that the selection process for the new city police chief was now firmly established. The process is similar to the one used for the recent selection for the director of Economic and Community Development Services.

There are nine members on the committee who are reviewing the approximately 30 applications which have been received. Their first meeting was Oct. 6 where they defined their work procedures, agreed on the job description and developed criteria for the "ideal chief." The next meeting of the committee is on Oct. 20 where they will make choices for telephone interviews and list questions for those interviews.

The committee members include City Finance Director Gina Reffner, Greg Evanson of the Navajo County Sheriff's Office, Sgt. Jim Sepi of the Winslow Police Department, Mary Sanchez of the police department dispatch staff, Dr. Emerson Scott, DVM, Dean Brenda Manthei of NPC, the warden at the Department of Corrections center in Winslow and the City Administrator. The city personnel director is also available to the committee to answer questions.

The team expects to hold personal interviews in mid-November.

The process was carefully kept from being political. There are no City Council members on the committee and they did not appoint those that are there.

The selection process often defines the selection itself. This process, which is very open, gives the city a wider range of choice. At the same time, the job description and the outline of the "ideal chief" for Winslow makes the relevant applications float to the top.

This process is not only similar to the one used for current hiring, it is also similar to the one used in the hiring of the last chief, Raymond Sands. Sands brought new ideas and organization to the department which are now being absorbed into its common practice. Sands also involved Winslow in community policing studies and the process, now coming to fruit, of applying for a Weed and Seed grant from the Department of Justice.

This Wednesday (today) Winslow is expecting to receive a check from the national Weed and Seed program in the ceremonial inauguration of that program in the city. The results of previous choices live on.