City Manager Brad Miyake says he’s taking a more targeted approach to finding Bellevue’s next police chief, after the city dished out a sizable sum earlier this year only to end up passing on several prospective candidates back in November.
The city paid the Mercer Group more than $21,000 to conduct a nationwide search for a new police chief, following Linda Pillo’s retirement in April. Five candidates were selected to go through a series of interviews and meetings with the public and city staff in late October.
“They brought their best candidates forward,” Miyake said. “Unfortunately, they just didn’t work out for us for a number of reasons, and now we’re working with someone who can go deeper for us.”
Of the five former candidates, the city tapped Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Matt Clark to enter the next vetting phase for potential hire, but he pulled his name from consideration.
“He was a top contender and he had pulled out for personal, family reasons,” said Emily Christensen, chief communications officer for the city.
The city is now in back-and-forth negotiations with an organizational recruiter that specializes in law enforcement to direct the city to quality police chief candidates rather than conducting another open-application process. That contract is expected to be ratified before the end of the year.
Miyake said more vetting by the recruiter and city staff will be done upfront before making a selection, adding it hasn’t been decided yet whether one or several candidates will be chosen this time.
“We’re looking for the best fit for Bellevue. You just don’t know until you get out there,” Miyake said. “… This is a position … that I am not going to compromise just to get someone in within a certain timeframe.”
Christensen added the city has gone out twice to find viable candidates for other positions in the past, including during its city manager, economic development director and planning and community development director searches.
Jim Montgomery has committed to remaining police chief in the interim until a final replacement for Pillo is found. Montgomery was Bellevue police chief for 10 years, retiring in 2007, and was succeeded by Pillo in 2008.
The cost of doing business
Mixed into the wash that was the first police chief search are the travel and lodging expenses incurred by bringing several candidates and their spouses to Bellevue from Oct. 22-25. Three candidates were reimbursed for their airfare to Seattle, as well as departing flights to Orlando for the 2014 International Association of Chiefs of Police conference from Oct. 25-28.
Christensen said the city did not pay for those candidates to return home, and uses set guidelines for determining the lowest roundtrip fare when bringing in candidates for employment discussions, which allowed the candidates to change course for the conference within a certain price range.
“I don’t think we knew about (the conference) until we had already put everything in progress of getting set on the city manager’s schedule and staff’s schedule,” Christensen said, adding the timeline for candidate interviews had been set months in advance. “Certainly if (the candidates’ visit) was right in the middle of the conference, we would have rethought it.”
She said the city agreed to pay the cost of putting up Seattle Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz in a Bellevue hotel to provide a similar environment to what candidates outside the area had, as well as to accommodate early daily interviews. Metz, who is now a police chief finalist for Aurora, Colo., did not require a per diem for food or travel expenses, which allowed the city to make a concession on lodging, Christensen said.
“These are really long days for the candidates,” she said. “(Metz) started on day one at 7:15 a.m. … The interview schedule was pretty extensive.”
The city is reviewing how it can offer candidates, who would be part of Bellevue’s leadership team, an informal venue to meet and familiarize themselves with other Bellevue leaders, after a meet-and-greet with police chief finalists on Oct. 24 at El Gaucho restaurant turned into a $1,836 dinner tab for 21 people. That food bill was more than what was spent by the Mercer Group on printing brochures and advertising the police chief position, separately.
“It was meant to be more of an open house,” Christensen said. “… Had we intended for it to be a dinner, would we have chosen another restaurant? Of course.”
She added a similar dinner was held at Maggiano’s during the city manager search earlier this year, each attendee costing about $50. Alcohol purchases were separate, and not paid for by the city during both dinner engagements.
