Hundreds of job postings crossed the desk of Zach Ardis over the past several months and few drew his attention. The opening for a public safety chief for Longmont was the exception.
“There was this opening in Longmont, 1,500 miles away from where I live and I looked at the city and I asked myself ‘What is going on there?” the 45-year-old Ardis said. “The more I looked at Longmont, the more I liked it … almost immediately.”
To Ardis it came down to inclusiveness — the effort to bring as many people as possible to solve a problem — and innovation.
“I saw things happening in Longmont that were light years ahead of what other cities are doing,” Ardis said. As an example, he pointed to the city’s LEAD and CORE programs, which attempt to take low-level offenders and steer them into programs to make them into contributing members of society.
“These programs are so far ahead of what many places are trying to do now,” Ardis said. “I knew I wanted to be part of that community both professionally and personally.”
Ardis was picked in July as Longmont’s next public safety chief. He succeeds Mike Butler who retired last July after 26 years on the job.
Ardis begins work on August 30. City Manager Harold Dominguez is Acting Public Safety Chief.
Ardis was picked over five finalists for the public safety post after a long process that included input from several groups as well as a Q & A forum with community members in June.
Ardis has served the city of Commerce, Ga., chief of police since 2016, and in August 2020, was appointed executive director of policy, planning, and public safety, according to a city of Longmont news release announcing his hiring. Ardis has overseen the police department in Commerce as well as the fire department, planning and zoning, building department, code enforcement, animal control and city vehicle maintenance shop.
Prior to working in Commerce, Ardis had a 19-year career with the city of Douglasville Police Department in the greater Atlanta metro area, where he supervised the criminal investigations division, uniformed patrol division and the administration division, the news release states.
Dominguez said, in the news release, he was impressed with the breadth of experience Ardis brings to the role as Longmont Public Safety Chief, which includes overseeing the city’s police and fire divisions.
“He joins the city team with a deep understanding of how to engage with residents and staff alike, and how to build trust by walking the walk,” Dominguez said.
Ardis praises Butler and community members with building the alternative sentencing programs along with past and present city councils for sustaining the efforts.
“You have this triangle of people in this community who have embraced this change,” Ardis said. “Everyone, including elected officials, are buying into this and that is what makes it so successful.”
He said he does not have any specific ideas of any new initiatives he wants to take on after he starts. Ardis said he does want to build on existing successes. “I am always open to new ideas,” Ardis said.
Ardis said one of his main challenges is attracting qualified people to fire and police services. “It just comes down to staffing these days,” Ardis said. “It affects everything, it’s just across the board a problem in finding people and applicants.”
“And people in those (public safety) jobs, as they should be, are interested in salaries, benefits, retirement and upward mobility,” Ardis said. He added he didn’t know enough about recent contract agreements between the city and police and fire unions to comment.
Ardis said he is not worried about overseeing 300 personnel in Longmont as opposed to 60 in his current job. “It’s just an idea of getting around and talking to people and getting to know them,” he said. “It’s just going to take a little time.”
Ardis said his family — his wife and four children — will remain in Georgia to allow his 17-year-old son to finish his senior year. “Then in May, they will all move out to Colorado to be with me,” Ardis said. “It’s all going to be an adventure for everyone.”
