Police chief hires in the City of Tumwater are no longer the sole discretion of the mayor.
An ordinance passed by the Tumwater City Council on Tuesday, May 19, amended city code to require city council majority approval for police chief hires.
Previously, the hiring of a new police chief was solely approved by the Tumwater mayor.
The change was made in an effort to increase transparency, along with matching a growing number of cities across the state now using a “mayor appoints, council confirms” procedure for executive leadership roles in city governments.
Tumwater City Administrator Paul Simmons said that other positions within the Tumwater government already had this stipulation, including his own position, the city attorney and the city finance director.
Interim Tumwater Police Chief Carlos Quiles Jr. also spoke on the ordinance during the Tumwater City Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, and shared his support for the amendment.
“The chief of police is a pretty high, visible position in the city, has a lot of responsibility and works with both the community, the council and inside folks, and the business community as well,” Quiles said. “I’m a firm believer that to be in this position, you have to have (the) support of the council, you have to have the support of the community, you have to have the support of the business community, and you have to have the support of the folks inside the organization, as well.”
He added he would not want to be permanently appointed to the police chief position if he knew there were some who opposed him holding it.
Tumwater Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff added she also supported the ordinance, as she wanted to promote “unity, not uniformity,” in the city government.
“We have a lot of things coming our way that are going to be some heavy decisions that council needs to decide. This is one of the situations where I think it’s imperative that we show that we can disagree, but when it comes to this and what we want and how we are working together, this is really important to me, that council can contribute to this conversation,” Dahlhoff said.
Quiles, a longtime member of the Tumwater Police Department, was appointed as interim police chief at the beginning of the year after Dahlhoff took office and terminated then-Tumwater Police Chief Jay Manson.
In Tumwater, the chief of police serves the mayor as an at-will employee, and the mayor has full authority to replace the police chief, according to Mason.
In a Tumwater Police Department blog post just before his last days as chief, Mason stated, “I have complete confidence in his (Quiles’s) leadership, his judgment and his ability to guide this organization forward … I believe that a new mayor should have the opportunity to build a leadership team that aligns with their vision for the city.”
To read Mason’s full statement, read The Chronicle’s coverage at https://tinyurl.com/58jupn9k.
