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Correspondence Sheet

September 10, 2013 lo: From: Subject: Councilmember P.G. Sittenfeld Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager Police Chief Process

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I am in receipt of your memo suggesting the addition of a town hall type meeting for the police chief finalists. That is an element that some communities have used; however, it has not been part of the process that we have used in Cincinnati. At the beginning of a major recruitment there are several issues that are typically decided. What will the process be? Will the search be local, regional or national in scope? What role will the public play direct orindirect? Aside from the option choices, I have worked diligently with our team to ensure that the search be thorough, fair, equitable, inclusive, professional, and transparent.

Though no final choice has yet been made, I am confident that we have met the appropriate standards in our efforts to secure a police chief. With Chief Craigs tenure not being as long as anticipated, which was a major disappointment, some of the benefits of that process were still available to us in this current recruitment effort. That included the public having multiple opportunities to provide input regarding the characteristics and attributes that are desirable for a chief to possess. Several hundred stakeholders participated in the process that resulted in Chief Craigs hiring, and their input was used to develop the recruiting brochure and underpinnings for the type of individual that we were seeking now. With Chief Craigs short stay, our conclusion was that the publics input was in fact still relevant. Nevertheless, the recruiting brochure for the recent vacancy was modified a bit to heighten its clarity. While it is not required that we have a screening committee, we put one in place and increased the number of participants from the chief search two years ago. It consisted of a group of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. Engaged people are busy people, so it was a challenge to coordinate all their schedules, especially in the summer. This group of citizens held two rounds of interviews, interacting with the finalists for several hours each. After conducting all of their interviews the committee slept on it before deciding which names to forward to me. At the end of the screening process they were unanimous in their determination of the final four candidates. I do not argue the point that if you had more people involved there could have been some additional questions that perhaps were not asked. I was not present during any of the work done by the screening committee. I am moving forward expeditiously to complete the process and make a selection. After several rounds of questions, Google searches, background checks, and reference checks, I am poised to make a decision in the very near future. When that is done all of the aspects that I mentioned earlier will have been met. This would be consistent and similar to the approach that was utilized to bring Fire Chief Braun and Police Chief Craig aboard both earning solid accolades. Given the success of our overall results in filling department head positions, including what I have cited above, I am respectfully declining your suggestion for a town hail meeting.

I hope you will join me in working with the new police chief once selected.