Police chief appointment on special meeting agenda

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A new police chief could be named Monday night at a special meeting of the Fort Madison City Council.

The council will be in a special meeting to go over a five-year general fund projection being prepared by City Manager David Varley, but after the meeting the council has scheduled a closed session under Iowa Code to discuss a personnel matter.

After the closed session, the council is scheduled to vote on the appointment of a new police chief. It is unknown if the closed session is to discuss the appointment prior to the vote, or for another personnel issue.

The closed session is on the agenda under Iowa Code 21.5 (1)(i) which allows a governmental body to enter closed session "to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session."

Last week Varley said the firm hired to generate a pool of candidates for the position turned over it's list to the city's Civil Service Commission who narrowed the pool to six candidates. That list included names of officers currently on the Fort Madison Police Department.

However, Varley has the authority under city code chapter 7.1.2 to appoint the police chief subject to approval of the city council. Varley initially pared the list down to three, none of whom were on the Fort Madison Police Department, and has now selected a candidate for the council's consideration Monday night.

Varley said the narrowed field of candidates all asked for confidentiality in during the interview processes.

Lee County Sheriff' Stacy Weber has been serving as interim police chief since former Police Chief Tim Sittig resigned at the end of May. The city has been paying the county from funds that were allocated for the police chief's salary for the sheriff's department's services.


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