City of Ronan to advertise for police chief, revamp hiring procedures
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RONAN — Last week the Ronan City Council reversed an earlier decision to hire a police chief without advertising specifically for the position and decided to take heed of a police commissioner’s concerns about whether the latest hiring process was kosher.
After a brief executive session in a June 11 meeting, council members heard about the Lake County Sheriff Department’s stringent hiring process from Undersheriff Dan Yonkin.
Yonkin said he posts want ads specifically for whichever position he is seeking to fill, then applicants are instructed to submit a uniform application, and a long list of documentation that includes birth certificate, driver’s license, marriage certificate, child support paperwork, and divorce documentation, educational background documents, and military background documents. A preliminary background check is done through the county’s dispatch center to make sure no felons are trying to slip through the cracks.
“These pieces are not used to make a decision on the applicant,” Yonkin said. “Basically what that is is: ‘Can they give us a complete packet?’ If they give us a complete packet, they are considered possibly for an interview.”
The process gives the county some degree of protection from being sued under equal opportunity employment laws.
“We’re heading toward a formal scoring system on our applications so we can say ‘We didn’t consider you for an interview, not because you are white, black, crippled or in any of the protected classes, but because of the scoring,’” Yonkin said.
Applicants then have to go through a physical exam and written test.
The highest scoring applicants are interviewed by a hiring board comprised of law officers and community members that have some insight into the job requirements.
The interviews are scored by the board. At that point, the highest scoring applicants enter a more rigorous level of scrutiny.
The applicants are interviewed one-on-one by Yonkin, who asks a series of very personal questions.
“I ask private questions,” Yonkin said. “If somebody’s a child molester I don’t want them working for our department.”
Other questions about drugs, alcohol and personal credit are asked.
Yonkin said some of the questions are absolutes that can weed down applicants quickly.
“If you tell me you are snorting cocaine every other weekend, then you’re off the list and you’re done,” Yonkin said.
Still, if the City of Ronan wants to pursue the one-on-one interview, Yonkin advised that the questioner should go to an interview school to keep the city from asking things it legally is not permitted to.
“You have to have a reason to ask those questions,” he said.
Those who pass the one-on-one interview are sent to a psychologist for evaluation. Yonkin said some good candidates have been weeded out by the psychologist. The psychologist the department uses has never yet been wrong, according to Yonkin.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach told Yonkin that the Ronan Police Department has typically had a medical doctor check off a box that said applicants were mentally OK.
In previous council meetings, Aipperspach said the chief of police conducted the evaluations.
State law says an ordinary medical doctor must complete the evaluation, Yonkin noted, but the county goes above and beyond that to protect itself legally.
“Any medical doctor you talk to will generally tell you they are not a specialist in that field,” Yonkin said.
After mental evaluations, the applicants are then put through an extensive background check where the department spends hours calling references and friends of references to find out what kind of person the applicant is.
At the end of the process, the top applicants are considered potential hires, and the hiring official picks his or her favorite potential hire to offer a job.
Applicant files are stored for a year. The entire process can take up to six months, according to Yonkin.
The council members decided to digest what they learned over the weekend, and bring new ideas about policies and procedures to the June 16 council meeting, that took place as the Valley Journal went to press.
Councilmember Chris Adler asked that the advertisement for chief be placed as soon as possible to expedite the process. The town has been without a police chief since April 21.
“We’re trying not to draw it out any longer,” Adler said.
