City of Ithaca
Chief of Police Search Process
City starts search for police chief
Journal Staff
ITHACA – After months of political wrangling, the City of Ithaca took its first steps Monday to select a new police chief.
A start-up committee charged with developing a selection process met behind closed doors Monday afternoon. The effort to find and appoint a new police chief is expected to stretch over several months, Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen said he hopes a new chief can be on the job by next spring.
The start-up committee’s key tasks are to identify groups who need to be involved in the selection process and to identify search committee candidates.
“We identified close to 20 different groups that might have some stake in the selection,” said Cohen.
The selection is a three-step process:
- Start-up. The start-up committee includes Cohen, four council members, Acting Chief David Barnes and former mayor John Gutenberger. The group will meet at week’s end to map out a selection time frame.
- Search. The search committee will form after the start-up committee finishes its tasks. Through a series of public meeting, the committee will identify the criteria important to the community that candidates must meet.
- Screening. The search committee will also screen applications down to six candidates who will be invited for interviews.
Cohen will make the final decision under this plan.
Last month, Cohen vetoed a Common Council plan that would have made the selection of the police chief subject to council approval.
Although council overrode the veto, the timing of the mayor’s action did not allow council time to get a referendum on the disputed process onto the 1996 ballot.
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