The interim city administrator and the mayor decided to postpone
the closed city council session that the body will use to discuss
new, confidential information about the next police chief. This
most recent delay comes days before the council is expected to
confirm the Gilroy Police Department’s interim chief.
The interim city administrator and the mayor decided to postpone the closed city council session that the body will use to discuss new, confidential information about the next police chief. This most recent delay comes days before the council is expected to confirm the Gilroy Police Department’s interim chief.
The council planned to confirm the new chief Tuesday, but interim City Administrator Anna Jatczak received a letter from the Gilroy Police Officer ‘s Association Jan. 10 that she said included new information about Denise Turner, a chief with a 26-year career at the King County Sheriff’s Office, which covers Seattle. The information has prompted Jatczak and Mayor Al Pinheiro to delay an official council decision on Turner to at least Feb. 4, when the hour-long closed session concerning Turner will precede the regular 7 p.m. council meeting.
The importance of concluding Turner’s ongoing background check before the closed session and the fluid nature of agendas are the two main reasons Jatczak pointed to for the latest delay. The council technically could vote on Turner’s hiring during the regular meeting Feb. 4 – after the closed session – but this appears unlikely as Pinheiro has indicated repeatedly that the council should digest any and all information about Turner before voting. The next regular council session after Feb. 4 is Feb. 25, which now appears to be the date when Turner’s confirmation vote will take place, but Jatczak cautioned that the decision could happen sooner or later depending on the council’s reaction to the information.
Pinheiro could not immediately be reached for comment Friday, but earlier in the week he said the council will vote when appropriate. He emphasized the non-urgent nature of approving Turner, who is set to replace current Gilroy Police Department Chief Gregg Giusiana.
One thing the council will definitely vote on Tuesday, though, is Giusiana’s interim replacement who will serve until Turner’s indefinite hiring process concludes. The council will likely appoint Capt. Scot Smithee as acting police chief, according to the agenda packet for the Jan. 22 meeting.
The possibility of formally hiring Turner and then learning something damning about her could put the city in legal trouble. Firing someone after such an exhaustive interview process is no easy chore, and for this reason council members have said they want all the information they can get.
Jatczak said she had questions about the POA letter because it relies partially on anonymous sources that describe a work environment different from Turner’s. This calls for a degree of skepticism.
POA President Frank Bozzo declined to elaborate on the letter or the type of information included in it.
“Stuff has come up, but it hasn’t changed our position at this time,” Bozzo said last week. He was referring to a letter former POA President Jim Callahan sent to the city council Dec. 10 weighing the pros and cons of Turner and the two other finalists at the time: Morgan Hill Police Commander Joe Sampson and San Jose Police Department Deputy Chief Donald Anders. While the letter conveyed the POA’s approval of Anders and Turner, but not Sampson, Callahan also cautioned that the officers in the King County POA had not responded.
Councilman Perry Woodward surmised that negative responses to these e-mails must have gotten back to Callahan. For this reason, Councilman Craig Gartman said he looked forward to seeing what Jatczak had to present.
Personnel matters justify closed session meetings, but if Bozzo were to send the information to all council members, it would become public record. Jatczak, however, can deliver the information to the full council in a closed session.
The new information has already been incorporated into Turner’s ongoing background check, drug test and psychological and medical evaluations. If she passes everything, and Pinheiro decides not to hold any more closed sessions after Feb. 4, the council could vote formally to approve Turner’s hiring that night, or at its Feb. 25 meeting. In a controversial move, the council voted 4-3 Dec. 17 to informally approve Turner, but that decision was not legally binding.
Woodward agreed with the cautious approach.
“If we’re going to have Turner come down here only to discover that she is not suitable, we may be exposing the city to liability,” Woodward said. “It seems to me that we need to go back into closed session to discuss this information as a personnel matter before any decision is made.”
