Denise Turner to start in March at $162,000
After a rigorous hiring process that was touch and go at times, all Gilroy’s new police chief has to do is pack her bags and move to town.
The city plans to have Denise Turner in place about mid March, said LeeAnn McPhillips, the city’s director of human resources. In terms to what remains of the hiring process, “we are done,” McPhillips said.
“We’ve dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s,” she added.
The full recruitment process for a sworn law enforcement position in California includes a comprehensive background investigation process accompanied by a psychological and medical evaluation. Now that she’s successfully completed these steps and been approved by the city council, Turner will fill the position come March with an annual salary of $162,000.
While the specifics of her hire are still being hammered out, city councilmembers say they are confident in their decision to back the city administrator’s recommendation.
“I’m feeling positive,” said Councilman Craig Gartman. “I’m looking forward to having her come on board.”
During an hour long closed session prior to Monday’s open meeting, the council was debriefed on the contents of a letter provided by former Gilroy Police Officers’ Association President Jim Callahan weighing the pros and cons of Turner as a prospective chief. The outside firm that conducted Turner’s background check further investigated the contents of the letter. The firm was present at the closed session to answer any questions that councilmembers had, Mayor Al Pinheiro said.
“It’s not that it (the letter) didn’t matter,” Gartman said. “Comments were made but they were nothing we could prove one way or the other.”
Pinheiro said he’s looking forward to Turner “getting Gilroy on the right track for the safety of the community and building on the foundation of Chief Giusiana.”
We are obviously very happy to have her as our new chief,” he added.
Although Councilman Perry Woodward supported the city’s decision to hire Turner, he thought the timing of the hire was off. Former city administrator, Jay Baksa, retired in January and Anna Jatczak has stepped in to fill the position as the interim city administrator. Monday, the city council directed the executive search firm of Peckham & McKenney to proceed with further reference and background checks of the leading candidate for the new city administrator position, Pinheiro said.
“I’m in a little bit of an awkward position,” Woodward said. “I think we should have delayed this hire. It makes more sense to wait another week or two, or even a month, and let the new city administrator make the hiring decision. If it was my decision to make, we would have waited.”
“But I want to give the new chief the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I’m guardedly optimistic that she’ll come in and provide the leadership that the department has been lacking.”
