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Five candidates vie for Public Safety Chief position in public forum

Candidates said they would emphasize transparency, accountability and community collaboration during their tenure.
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Five candidates vie for Public Safety Chief position in city council chambers on June 17, 2021

The five candidates vying to become the new head of Longmont’s Department of Public Safety all said, Thursday night, they would emphasize transparency, accountability and community collaboration during their tenure.

All said policing has changed over the past several years and their job of overseeing fire and police personnel would start at the ground level with listening to employees and residents as a top priority.

“In my organizational chart, the chief would be at the bottom,” Zach Ardis, currently the executive director of Policy, Planning, and Public Safety in Commerce, Georgia, told an audience of about 30 in a community forum held at the Longmont City Council chambers. “I would have people surrounding me that would be smarter than me and challenge me as to what I am doing.”

Ardis and the four other finalists for the job of chief of public safety answered questions from community groups as part of a gleaning process to find a replacement for former Public Safety Chief Mike Butler, who retired in July. Rob Spendlow, the deputy public safety chief for support services, has served as interim chief for nearly a year.

Assistant City Manager Sandi Seader, who oversaw Thursday night’s Q&A of the finalists, said the city received 58 applications for the public safety post that led to 12 initial candidates and now five finalists. The five were interviewed in person this week, Seader said via email.

City Manager Harold Dominguez will make the final hiring decision. Dominguez said, Thursday night, he has not set a hard deadline for making an appointment, adding he wants to get opinions from members of community groups who met with each of the five men.

He said his review will include checking the backgrounds of each applicant, including retired Denver Police Lt. Kenneth Chavez. Chavez  a highly decorated officer with DPD  was the target of a wrongful death claim stemming from the fatal shooting of Jeffrey Truax in March 1996. Chavez fired the bullet that killed Truax as he drove away from a Denver nightclub, according to the Denver Post.

A federal jury found Chavez and another police officer violated the constitutional rights of Truax but jurors rejected the wrongful death claim against Chavez, the Denver Post states. 

Chavez said Friday the wrongful death allegation has not come up during his interviews with Longmont.

Chavez said Thursday night that deadly force has to be considered only after other methods to subdue a suspect have been exhausted. “The use of force has to be judicious, legal and ethical,” Chavez said. “I’ve been placed in those situations before.”

Manny Almaguer, an assistant Denver fire chief in charge of operations division, said a public safety head must build an environment in which personnel can learn to reach out for help in building emotional resilience and fight “compassion fatigue” among firefighters and police officers. Almaguer also said he wants personnel to have high emotional intelligence.

He would ask for more funding for mental health aid for police officers.  

Dante Orlandi, a former major in the Pennsylvania State Police, told the audience his job in Longmont would be primarily finding out the top concerns of residents. “I work for you, we are your police department, we listen to your needs,” Orlandi said.

Michael Marino, an assistant chief in the Prince George’s County, Maryland, Fire/EMS Department, praised Longmont’s approach to community policing and getting mental health help to residents in need. Marino said he would expand those programs as public safety boss.

“The priority needs must come from the community,” Marino said. “Longmont has done great work in community policing and that needs to continue.”