Three of the four finalists for the Columbus police chief position live outside Mississippi, and one candidate lives more than 2,500 miles away from the city.
With the interview phase expected to begin in early December, the city must find some local help or leave travel costs to the candidates. The city cannot, by law, directly help pay for candidates’ travel expenses.
“City governments and county governments are restricted for how they can spend funds, and that’s not a liable use of taxpayers money in (Mississippi),” Chief Operating Officer David Armstrong said.
“It’s called an unlawful donation … For an example, the city cannot pay for the moving expenses of a hire,” City Attorney Jeff Turnage said, noting the attorney general offered an opinion stating a government agency cannot do such.
The candidates who have to trek across multiple states are Nathaniel Clark of Albany, Ga.; Curtis Brame of North Chicago, Ill.; and Robert Spinks of Sequim, Wash. The only local finalist is interim Columbus Police Chief Selvain McQueen.
When Dispatch Publisher and subcommittee chairman Birney Imes mentioned at Tuesday’s council meeting the concern some subcommittee members had about candidates not participating in face-to-face interviews because of travel costs, he concluded the hope is for the city to find funding elsewhere to help the out-of-town candidates.
The attorney general’s opinion states an economic development group can pay for the travel expenses as long as the government entity does not “earmark” funds given to the group for that specific purpose. Chief Financial Officer Mike Bernsen said the city gives $100,000 to the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link and gives the “restaurant portion” of the extra 2-percent hotel and restaurant tax to the Columbus-Lowndes Convention Visitors Bureau.
“They’re up around $1.35 million a year for that tax,” Bernsen said.
Weighing the options
Mayor Robert Smith said asking the Link or a local business owner to help is on the list of things to do before interviews begin.
“We’re going to go the route of the Link first and maybe some business owners,” he said, noting the candidates know that the city cannot pay for their travel expenses. “We’re going to see if we can do that, but if not then they will have to pay it themselves.”
However, Link CEO Joe Higgins wasn’t optimistic about the prospects of the Link paying for the travel expenses.
“If we’re asked to do that, we’ll put it on our board agenda and whatever our directors decide, we’ll do,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think I already know what the answer will be.”
Higgins said the board should question the process and whether these are the best candidates the city can bring in for interviews.
“We haven’t been asked, and if we were, I think our questions would have to be, ‘Do we believe that the process has been a good process and are those the three best candidates we could bring in?'” Higgins said. “I think everyone knows where we stand on the police chief search.”
Link Vice President Melissa Cook was one of the 21 committee members and one of the five subcommittee members, but she withdrew from the subcommittee due to belief that the process was “flawed.” It was reported that the Link asked her to pull out, but Higgins said it was Cook’s decision.
“We didn’t pull Melissa out of it. She came to us and told us on numerous occasions her displeasure with the process,” Higgins said. “At least Melissa had the guts to tell everyone that this isn’t going right.”
Back to square one?
Ward 6 Councilman and Vice Mayor Bill Gavin has heard residents in his ward express displeasure with the process, and he is unsure whether to continue it or hire an outside firm.
“That’s going to be a hard thing to answer,” Gavin said. “I have looked over the current applicants’ resumes, and I do think we’ve got some qualified people. As far as starting over, I do not know if that’s a good idea or a bad idea.”
Gavin said if finalists do not come for an interview, it will be tough on the city to make a decision one way or the other.
“If they’re not willing to come on their own and the city cannot find the resources to bring them in, then we will limit us to one or two candidates,” Gavin said. “And then I would be in favor of going out and trying something different, because I think we need more than two choices.”
CVB Executive Director Nancy Carpenter also has not heard any formal request from the city, but it is something the board could consider.
“We certainly depend on a strong police force … ” Carpenter said. “Hopefully, I’ll hear something official from the city.”
In the past, city officials have conducted interviews via video conference, “but (the council) is more interested in doing it face to face,” Armstrong said.
Higgins recalled when the city hired J.D. Sanders as police chief, the city used the offices at the Link for the video conference capabilities to conduct some interviews.
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