The search for a new chief to lead the Morgan Hill Police
Department is down to the interview stage when eight to 10
candidates will arrive next week for face-to-face interviews.
The search for a new chief to lead the Morgan Hill Police Department is down to the interview stage when eight to 10 candidates will arrive next week for face-to-face interviews.
On Wednesday the applicants, selected by city executive staff members under the direction of City Manager Ed Tewes, from an original pool of 22, will talk to three panels: chiefs of police from other jurisdictions, city executive team members and a third made up of city Human Resource officials and community leaders.
Mary Kaye Fisher, human resource director, said that, while two original candidates were from out of state, all remaining candidates are from California.
“There was quite a bit of interest inside California,” Fisher said.
Most of those not making the cut, she said, didn’t quite match the city’s criteria.
The city ran an advertisements for the position in Western City magazine and on the Chiefs of Police website. It included salary and benefits plus a description of Morgan Hill and its police department. The ad also described qualities the city is looking for in a chief:
“Strong candidates will be professionals with a proven track record of establishing and reaching goals, communicating expectations as well as direction and building partnerships.”
The chief’s position pays between $110,100 to $137,640, depending on what the applicant brings to town, plus a possible 2.5 percent in performance pay, the 3 percent at age 50 retirement arrangement typical in California police agencies. The chief can also opt for a 457 retirement account, a housing loan if necessary, health insurance, vacation and sick leave.
“It will be mid-August to early September before the new chief starts,” Fisher said.
After meeting with panelists Wednesday, the candidates will take a tour of the new 43,000 square-foot state-of-the-art police facility on Vineyard Avenue.
Fisher and Melissa Dile, assistant to the city manager, are screening 14 applicants’ résumés and, by Monday will have narrowed them down to the eight to 10 short listers on the basis of an additional questionnaire.
After the Wednesday interviews, all three panels will be debriefed by Tewes, whose job it is to select the new chief, though the City Council has final approval rights.
“We’ll go over the strengths and weaknesses of them all,” Fisher said.
Tewes will cut the list of eight to 10 down to three to be invited back for a second round of personal interviews.
