Williston Council Won’t Tamper with Mayor’s Authority under City Charter to Recommend Candidates for Police and Fire Chief Vacancies

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Williston City Council members agreed Tuesday they wouldn’t tinker with the mayor’s duties under the city charter giving him authority to submit recommendations to the council for police chief and fire chief positions when vacancies occur.

The council retained final authority to hire fire chiefs and police chiefs by either accepting or rejecting the mayor’s recommendation for filling those positions. The city’s human resource manual will be amended to make certain the mayor, not the city manager, is empowered to make recommendations to the council for the chief positions.

City Manager Jackie Gorman, Council President Debra Jones, as well as Human Resource Director and Deputy City Manager Deanna Nelson said the current human resource manual assigns the duties of hiring personnel to the city manager, not the mayor, but the charter gives the mayor authority to make recommendations on hiring the chiefs.

Gorman and Nelson will write revisions to the human resource manual clarifying that the charter gives the mayor the power to recommend who fills the two chief positions and any language to the contrary will be removed or rewritten to avoid conflicts.

The council also agreed to City Attorney Kiersten Ballou’s suggestion to allow her to write additional language in the general provisions part of the city charter saying all hiring decisions will be handled in accordance with HR manual requirements and the city’s current employment code.

Concerning the mayor’s duties in the city charter, Ballou said there would be no change in the wording of the section assigning the mayor authority to recommend a candidate for fire chief or police chief and she said Gorman and Nelson will write a new section in the HR manual clarifying that the mayor has exclusive authority to make those recommendations.

“You will have a mayor as happy as a frog in lily pads,” said Mayor Charles Goodman upon hearing Ballou’s remarks.

Whatever language is removed or added to the HR manual will have to be reviewed and approved by the full city council and the mayor will have the right to comment on the changes.

The meeting Tuesday was the first charter review workshop where council members discussed whether they would change the charter.

The city charter is a general document of rules and policies governing how the city operates. It can’t be changed without voter approval. The human resource manual contains policies and rules governing the hiring of employees, disciplining them, promoting them, and filling vacancies.

Council members spent 45 minutes debating whether they should take a more active role in selecting the police and fire chiefs when there was a vacancy, but Goodman fought against attempts to dilute this authority, saying the charter gives him authority to recommend his choices for fire and police chief.

Councilman Elihu Ross prevailed with his suggestion to change the charter wording to say that the mayor wouldn’t nominate a person for fire chief or police chief, but rather would recommend an interim replacement that the council would have to approve.

But Ross’s suggestion that the council review all the résumé of applicants for the chief positions met with opposition from Goodman who felt it was chipping away at his charter-granted authority to review the qualifications of candidates and recommend the one he felt would best fit the position.

Ultimately Goodman was successful in defending his position. He said he would be happy to provide the council with the résumé of the person he recommends for fire chief or police chief. He said if the council rejects his choice, he will recommend someone else for the position and will provide the résumé of the second candidate.

Goodman and Jones sparred over the issue of how many résumés the council should review.

“If you’re not satisfied with the nominee, then the mayor goes back through the process and brings back another nominee,” Goodman said.

Jones disagreed.

“I can tell you if I don’t know who all the nominees are, I don’t know whether you picked the most qualified candidate,” she said.

Goodman: “Then why is the mayor making the nomination.”

Councilman Zach Bullock said it wasn’t the council’s job to review 20 to 50 résumés and pick the candidate the council feels is best for the position.

Jones: “We might want to review the top three.”

Goodman: “So now you want a list. The council’s job is very simply, very clearly to approve the nomination or not approve it. If you ask to have the résumé so you can make that decision, that is very reasonable. I have no problem with that. If you go away from that precedent, then you get into how many people did he interview, how many people did he consider, how many résumés do you guys want to get, and oh, we want the top three so now I have to decide who is number one, two or three. It is a rabbit trail with no end.”

Bullock responded: “If we’re going to sit up here and argue over which résumé we like the best it’s going to go nowhere. It’s our job to approve.”

Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson agreed: “I would have to trust the mayor in picking. It’s his job.”

Jones and Goodman quarreled over the question of whether he was being interrupted by the council president. It’s an allegation he has made before.

“Anytime you want to interrupt me, just say so and I’ll wait until you’re finished,” Goodman said.

“It’s called a discussion,” Jones responded.

“It’s okay for you to interrupt me but if I interrupt you..”

Jones didn’t let Goodman finish his sentence.

“I told you three times tonight to just talk when you want to,” Jones said.