Responding to a Comment from yesterday's post regarding the selection of the Police Chief.
"Botbyl selected the new chief without consulting any Aldermen"
My response to that statement is that it depends...depends on how you define "selected". Ultimately the Mayor submits a name for confirmation, and hire, of the new Chief of Police by the Board of Aldermen during closed session. So technically, I guess you can say they (BOA) were involved. However, if you define "selected" as the process running up to that session, I would tell you the Aldermen were very much left in the dark.
Right after last years City election, Clark, at the April BOA meeting, brought up the urgency of beginning the selection process to hire a new Chief. Gary had made it known he was retiring at the end of the year. Botbyl made it very clear in response to Clark's comment that he was going to be in charge of he process and timetable. Botbyl established a Selection Committee but did not make the names available to the BOA. He refused Clark' suggestion to include an Alderman. It wasn't until two meetings later that Botbyl grudgingly revealed the names of the Committee members, all from law enforcement. Considering the fact this was probably the most important appointment in the last 40 plus years, you would have thought a citizen or two on this Committee would have been important let alone an Alderman? A "nationwide" search was begun, we do know that a salary range was not included in the ad(s) that went out (odd?).
We do know that prior to the closed session hiring meeting, the Aldermen had no idea how many candidates had responded, or how the candidates were vetted, no resumes were provided to the Aldermen prior to the session. We do not know if any officers on the WL force were considered. The process was owned by Botbyl, Chief McMullin and the Committee.
Do you think Botbyl's hardball approach to the process and disdaining collaboration with the BOA was a problem? Another example where leadership was absent...and in its place it was My Way or the Highway.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
KCMO actually made public the finalists for Chief before choosing him, why was our selection so secret?
To 637 - Because Gary McMullin wanted to control who follows him; he wanted the new Chief to protect all of his skeletons. What is most important to Gary is the protection of his legacy, ABOVE ALL ELSE.
I am concerned that the community had no role, no input in this process. Why? The community certainly was invited to honor Gary, not to find his replacement.
Post a Comment