As interviews continue for Sonoma’s next police chief, the Sonoma City Council voted Wednesday to exert more influence over the process through the creation of an ad hoc committee.
Currently, two members of the city council sit on one of two interview panels to review candidates with other community members. The vote Wednesday created a third interview panel entirely comprised of city council members.
Since 2004, the city of Sonoma has contracted with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office for police services, which also selects the two candidates who will be considered for Sonoma’s police chief. Those candidates interview with various local officials before a final decision is made.
Two interview panels — one comprised of community leaders and the second made of public safety professionals that includes two members of the city council — interview pre-selected candidates chosen by the Sheriff’s Office.
This process has occurred twice before, with the most recent candidate being Sonoma’s current police chief, Orlando Rodriguez. But Vice Mayor Kelso Barnett said much has changed since Rodriguez was hired, and the status quo of yesterday may not be appropriate moving forward.
“We are held accountable for public safety in this city, but unlike other cities, we don’t typically conduct a search,” Barnett said. “(The Sheriff’s Office) sends us two candidates and we don’t really have any control over that, yet we’re held completely accountable for public safety in this city.”
Barnett said the city council should advocate to control the process of hiring a new police chief.
City Attorney Jeff Walter explained that the current process was due to the Brown Act, which requires legislative bodies hold a public meeting when a majority of public officials gather and discuss public policy.
“If the council takes control of this process and you select your representative for a committee, that committee then becomes your committee,” Walter said.
Interviews with candidates for chief of police would be required by law to happen in public due to the Brown Act.
“If you add other people to that committee or panel, it can no longer be private and those interviews then would have to be in public. That’s why it was done the way it was done,” Walter said.
Councilmember Madolyn Agrimonti serves on one of the interview panels, but was not allowed to comment on the formation of an ad hoc committee due to the Brown Act.
However, Agrimonti said the control of public safety organizations — including the police station and the fire department — have been ceded away from city council control over the years, giving Sonoma less influence over the organizations charged with protecting the public.
Barnett advocated for the city council to exert more direct control over the hiring process of Sonoma’s police chief, specifically noting the country’s reckoning over police reform in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement from 2020.
Councilmember Bob Felder inquired with Walters about forming an ad hoc committee to a third interview panel, which could provide its recommendation for the next police chief.
“It could work,” Walter said.
Councilmember Sandra Lowe gave a partial defense of the current process, saying that cities like Windsor, which also contracts with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, use the same interview process.
“I was a little bit comforted by that because I thought we’re not doing anything different,” Lowe said. “If the council decides that… the recommendation comes back to the council, I suppose that is something we can look at. I felt like the people on the panels were very representative and I felt they did a good job.”
After gaining clearance with Walter for the legality of forming an ad hoc committee to interview police chief candidates, the city council voted unanimously in favor of forming the committee.
The decision brings the city a step toward greater control of the hiring process for the city’s public safety leader, which Barnett said begins a path toward a future with more local control of key city positions.
“A decision like this and a process as important as this, I think a police chief could conceivably be there 10 years or longer,” Barnett said. “I think in the future, the appointment of the police chief should be a direct decision by the city council.”
Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.
