New Chief Will Be An Outsider
HATCH THINNED THE HERD
City CEO Tom Hatch told the public last Tuesday evening that the herd had been thinned in the process of selecting a new Chief of Police, and that he would be conducting what will amount to the final round of interviews with the remaining few candidates. No number of candidates nor the identities were given of those who remain.
ALL CMPD CANDIDATES ARE OUT
Today sources close to the process confirmed that none of the four candidates from the Costa Mesa Police Department remain in the running. The four candidates from the CMPD who tossed their hats into the ring are Captain Les Gogerty, in charge of Field Operations; ABLE Commander Sergeant Tim Starn; Lieutenant Allen Huggins, in charge of Professional Standards and Lieutenant Tim Schennum, in charge of Logistical Services.
GOGERTY SEEMED RIGHT
From what I know of the four men, Gogerty's resume and experience seemed like a pretty darn good fit for the opening. His education and training have prepared him for this position at this time and he was acting police chief during the "Where's Chris Shawkey?" fiasco.
TOUGH CALL
While I'm personally saddened that someone from within the department will not be chosen, I hope Hatch uses this opportunity to select an outstanding law enforcement leader - one who will place the public safety of Costa Mesa residents and visitors over the political demands of members of the City Council. Considering the political climate and the diminished resources available to the new chief, this is going to be quite a task.
HATCH CAN'T MAKE A MISTAKE ON THIS ONE
Quite honestly, Hatch cannot afford to make a mistake with this critical position. Ever since Dave Snowden retired and moved on to Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa has managed to shoot itself in the foot when it came to choosing men to run the department, at least on a permanent basis. With so many eyes on our city in recent months, this selection may be the most important Hatch will have made to date in his brief tenure as CEO. This one must be right.
City CEO Tom Hatch told the public last Tuesday evening that the herd had been thinned in the process of selecting a new Chief of Police, and that he would be conducting what will amount to the final round of interviews with the remaining few candidates. No number of candidates nor the identities were given of those who remain.ALL CMPD CANDIDATES ARE OUT
Today sources close to the process confirmed that none of the four candidates from the Costa Mesa Police Department remain in the running. The four candidates from the CMPD who tossed their hats into the ring are Captain Les Gogerty, in charge of Field Operations; ABLE Commander Sergeant Tim Starn; Lieutenant Allen Huggins, in charge of Professional Standards and Lieutenant Tim Schennum, in charge of Logistical Services.
GOGERTY SEEMED RIGHT
From what I know of the four men, Gogerty's resume and experience seemed like a pretty darn good fit for the opening. His education and training have prepared him for this position at this time and he was acting police chief during the "Where's Chris Shawkey?" fiasco.
TOUGH CALL
While I'm personally saddened that someone from within the department will not be chosen, I hope Hatch uses this opportunity to select an outstanding law enforcement leader - one who will place the public safety of Costa Mesa residents and visitors over the political demands of members of the City Council. Considering the political climate and the diminished resources available to the new chief, this is going to be quite a task.HATCH CAN'T MAKE A MISTAKE ON THIS ONE
Quite honestly, Hatch cannot afford to make a mistake with this critical position. Ever since Dave Snowden retired and moved on to Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa has managed to shoot itself in the foot when it came to choosing men to run the department, at least on a permanent basis. With so many eyes on our city in recent months, this selection may be the most important Hatch will have made to date in his brief tenure as CEO. This one must be right.
Labels: Allen Huggens, CMPD, Dave Snowden, Les Gogerty, Tim Schennum, Tim Starn, Tom Hatch
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 6/23/2011 03:13:00 PM
9 Comments:
It will show what Hatch is made of. Police Chiefs are a pretty tight group, so finding a yes man might be difficult. Eliminating the city car would at least prevent the fiasco of former Chief Shawkey and his mystery trips to Arizona.
That's right, Dave Snowden moved onto Beverly Hills, and lives in Newport Beach. You'd never know by how much he meddles in CMPD and the City's business. Maybe we should just re-hire him, he clearly has lots of time on his hands up there.
No big surprise... I agree that an in house selection should have been made and Capt. Gogerty was the most logical choice. All four candidates are well qualified and respected. But once again logic was not applied and Hatch (hatchet man)continues to be led around by the nose by the 4 Dumba**'@ !!!
I just hope whoever the new chief is, will not be or become a political puppet !! Best of luck to him/her...Am I upset?
Ya think !! Think recall ...
Barry clearly must have lots of time on his hands as well.
Barry please go back to the sofa and your beer.. your comments are amusing only to yourself.
Re being "led around by the nose," a reminder of the facts of life: the city council hires and fires just two people, the city manager and the city attorney.
In theory, the council just sets policies and the city manager implements them. As manager of city government, he has a lot of discretion in how he gets things done. He hires and fires everybody else.
In theory, the council does not micromanage, restricting themselves to setting policy. In reality, there's no bright line; it can get fuzzy, depending on the personalities involved.
While a city manager must have many skills, the critical one is that he or she must be able to count to three (assuming a five-person council).
If the city manager isn't responsive to the majority, he can be fired at will. After all, they hired him, didn't they?
There's absolutely no job security for a city manager who goes against the majority of his council. They will simply go looking for someone who is willing to implement their policies, not his own. And they can do it overnight if they want to.
The same hierarchy of power obtains between us, the electorate, and them, the elected ones. There's more slack in that relationship, though, as we can only hire and fire council members in elections (including recalls). In between, they can do what they think best. And that is both the beauty and the pain of representative democracy.
Geoff, you don't really believe the choice is Hatch's to make do you? I think we all know who is calling the shots in city hall.
Hatch is picking whoever Council tells him. Capt. Gogerty was the best choice...at least we know he doesn't bend over. Starn buddying up to council didn't pan out...he will probably get to know what shunned is all about.
An outsider will be given his marching orders...he will be a solider for council ...no emotional ties to the city or employees..he will get a nice severance package when council ousources PD.....it's coming!
Barry: I don't consider my interaction with the fine people at CMPD meddling any more than you consider writing your comments on this blog meddling. Lets call it caring. No matter how busy I am, I still care about CMPD and the future of the fine people who work there.
For the record, both of my sons, their wives, our grandchildren and my daughter in law's families all live in Costa Mesa.
Personally, I would have been very happy to see one of the in-house candidates get the nod on the chief's job. Captain Les Gogerty particularly, has done a remarkable job of holding the place together during some very difficult times. Considering the current council majority, Hatch probably did them all a favor.
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