This hire is critical for a number of reasons
– care should be taken
The Gilroy City Council, current members and those newly elected who will be seated Dec. 3, should individually request in writing that City Administrator Jay Baksa withdraw the action item from the next agenda regarding the hiring of a new police chief.
The newly elected members of the City Council should not be forced into consenting to the advice the city administrator will give them when he recommends a candidate to become the new police chief. By the letter of the City’s Charter it is, in fact, the city administrator’s hire to make. But the council must consent to that hire, and the circumstances are such that Mr. Baksa should not ask them to do so at this time. What’s important now is not the letter of the law in the city charter, but the spirit with which this new council will begin its tenure together.
Given that Mr. Baksa is retiring in five weeks, the newly formed city council should have an opportunity to thoroughly and collectively review the entire hiring process.
This is not to suggest that it’s an absolute necessity to start from square one, but the new council deserves to work through the hiring process together and decide together on how to go forward. That’s how a working group comes to solve problems and become collectively effective.
To force the hiring of a new chief is to inject divisiveness into the council at its first meeting. That is not a wise course, and to back away from the hiring process – perhaps for a short term – is far better in the long term for the city. After all, the new chief and the council will be around for quite a bit longer than the city administrator. And to be perfectly candid, the city administrator’s last two police chief hires haven’t been sterling.
In addition to the obvious reasons to slow the process down, there are very significant issues that also cry out to the council to be very careful with this hire because the new leader in or our police department is critical to our community’s healthy future.
The signs are clear:
n Violent crime and sex-related criminal incidents have dramatically risen in the last six months. Is this a fluke or a trend? That’s unclear, but nonetheless the facts are disturbing.
n There is unrest within the police department as noted in a recent survey of officers. Serious concerns exist over on-the-street time and leadership.
n Our continued growth requires a multi-faceted, problem-solving leadership approach that is both pro-active and responsive.
The new council deserves the time to look at this hire from both narrow and wide viewpoints. At this juncture, the hiring of a new police chief is anything but routine.
Recognizing that, the decision should be to take great care, and that means backing away from a shotgun hire at the new council’s first meeting. That’s what’s best for Gilroy.
