As of today a few of Fayetteville's highest municipal posts are filled by interim leaders who have been a part of our City's upper management for a good little while. They know quite a bit about the happenings, dynamics and underlying issues causing concern to the citizens of Fayetteville and its leadership. They each served under the tutelage of their former bosses for a few good years and surely handle themselves according to what they have learned. Assistant City Manager Kristoff Bauer is currently filling the role of Interim City Manager after the dismissal of Fayetteville head honcho Dale Iman, and former assistant Chief Katherine Bryant is filling the role of Police Chief since Tom Bergamine served his last day on the patrol this month. Both of these vacant posts were reportedly created in large part as a result of a DWB controversy that arose in Fayetteville. Racial profiling by the PD was alleged statistically, investigated thoroughly and while not necessarily proven, it was the talk of the town, the talk of our police and its supporters and even the talk of state judicial proceedings for quite some time.
All this talk led to a focused microscope being put on the actions of our City Council and Mayor, who alone serve as our city's body of elected representatives. The Mayor and City Council are responsible for hiring and firing only two people in the entire city staff of hundreds: City Manager and City Attorney. (it is my understanding that our City Attorney Karen McDonald is in good standing with the City Council and not at risk of turnover) As you might surmise, the responsibility to hire and fire those two people is taken very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it is commonplace to hire a consulting/expert firm for tens of thousands of dollars to solicit applicants, review credentials and make recommendations to the Council. The city will first hire a City Manager, and then leave the decision of hiring a Police Chief up to the City Manager. I can assure you that any candidate for City Manager will be very closely interrogated about how, why and under what circumstances they would prefer to go about hiring a police chief and managing them. After all, its in large part what got us into this predicament in the first place, and surely our elected officials are learning from the past.
The question I pose to you is this: Of the two "Interims" that we currently have in the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, which of them will be given the title permanently? Do both of them even want the job? And 6 months down the road (or 17 months), how do you think the citizens of Fayetteville will feel looking back on this whole conundrum?
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