He refers to himself as the “fix-it guy” for small police departments.

“I’ve been the fix-it guy. I can come into smaller agencies … and rebuild them. And I enjoy that,” Robert Spinks, one of the five recommendations for Columbus police chief, said. “I didn’t necessarily start out to be the agent of change or the fix-it chief, but it’s kind of how my career has gone.”

Spinks has made many stops in his law enforcement career.

“Generally, there tends to be two paths for people who end up being a police chief,” he said. “The traditional one is they end up staying in one place for like 20 years, one department, and they learn to do things one way and they have a singular vision. And eventually they are the last person standing and they get to be chief for three or four years and retire … I think there’s a difference between managing a police department and leading a police department.

“So, I took option No.2, and that’s where you take progressively increasing promotions by moving to a new agency.”

Spinks — who was born in Longview, Wash., and grew up in California — started his career in Eugene, Ore., as a patrol officer.

“I was really lucky because I experienced everything from handling homicides to barking dogs,” he said.

Then, he moved and became a supervisor in different departments in the state of Washington. Spinks continued to make moves up the ladder, and he took his title of “fix-it guy,” taking his first police chief job in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. However, this title can have its negatives, he said.

“The downside to being the agent of change is that (you are) also the person who is probably more active and visible in the community than a play-it-safe manager of police chief who is going to keep his head down and survive and get his retirement,” he said.

Spinks worked as Sequim, Wash., police chief from February 2005 to June 2010. Sequim city officials asked Spinks to resign from the department, according to the Peninsula Daily News. An article in the newspaper dated June 17, 2010, quoted a city official describing Spinks as “bombastic.”

Spinks said he disagrees with describing himself as “bombastic.” Instead, he uses “gregarious.” But he believes the term comes from the fact that he is “not afraid” to be the face of the police department.

“In that regard, I think one of the key things that makes me different from being a manager of a police chief is, I’m not afraid to step up to the plate and lead the police department and be engaged in the community,” he said. “But that’s also a double-edged sword. There’s no question that you will make some enemies doing that. It may make some elected officials a little uncomfortable.”

Spinks previously served as police chief in Milton-Freewater, Ore., from 1997-2001. The Eastern Oregonian reported that Spinks was placed on “non-disciplinary administrative leave” when he resigned from the chief’s job in Milton-Freewater at the end of a “bitter dispute with some members of the city council.”

Spinks said the changing of the guard in city leadership led to a different direction in both cities.

“Both in Milton-Freewater and in Sequim, those were cities that were evolving and starting to grow. I came in as the agent of change and built those agencies up,” he said.

“As sometimes happens in small towns, there was a change in the composition of the council, with literally a different majority of council members coming in one full swoop.

“In both cases, they decided they would buy out the contract of the city manager … I don’t think some of the comments and how he was treated in the ending of those contracts was professional by either one of those city councils.

“In the case of Sequim … the city went through a hiring process for the new city manager,” Spinks said. “When the new city manager arrived, he wanted his own management team. Since his arrival, 14 former department heads and managers of staff were replaced in the past 18 months.”

Spinks worked as an undersheriff in Benton County in 2001, but he resigned later that year. According to a Citizen Review Online article, The Gazette-Times reported that Spinks was accused of pulling his gun and pointing it at a dartboard in a fire station, although the incident was never proven and he denied it took place.

“What I did do is I pointed my finger at a board on a wall,” Spinks said in response.

“As the undersheriff, I was also assigned to be in charge of internal affairs investigations … (The sheriff) had brought to me an internal affairs complaint on a detective that he did not feel comfortable investigating because of his limited policing experience. The end result of this investigation was we discovered well over 100 mismanaged sexual crimes that this individual had been responsible for.

“It resulted in the termination of that individual, the early retirement of the sergeant in the investigations division and the demotion of the lieutenant who was in charge of the law enforcement division.”

“The next day, an anonymous complaint arose to the sheriff that I had pointed a weapon at a dartboard in the fire station.”

As the hiring process moves forward, Spinks said he “isn’t sold on Columbus.”

“I’m still evaluating the community, the hiring process, the police department, the crime, the people. It’s unfortunate that some people get caught up in blogging and whatnot, because that doesn’t necessarily put Columbus in the best light in the eyes of the candidates that are looking to potentially come to the city,” he said.

But he’s interested and he’s looking for a fun, yet challenging, opportunity.

“What I’ve tried to do is keep my eye open for interesting locations, interesting cities, and try to pick some place that would be a really fun opportunity, but that also might be challenging, to be the capstone for my policing career,” he said.