FORT PIERCE — The Fort Pierce City Commission is deadlocked over whether to reopen its police chief search to reconsider an internal candidate after a debate over the direction of the department and the authority of the city manager.
Commissioner Michael Broderick called for interim Chief Caleb Gillette to be added back into the pool of finalists after being excluded from the final three candidates.
“I am lobbying to have him included. I believe the Chief of Police's job is somewhat different. But the integral knowledge of having grown up with the City of Fort Pierce, having been in the department since the beginning of his career for 24 years moving forward, makes him uniquely qualified to hit the ground running,” Broderick said.
Gillette was among seven original candidates but did not advance to the final round. Broderick cited support from within the department.
“The police union has come out and endorsed him for this position. That carries a lot of weight with me. That endorsement means we're going to have a cohesive working unit moving forward. We can't assure that with somebody from the outside,” he said.
Broderick also proposed delaying a final decision until after a January runoff election fills a vacant commission seat.
“That timeline is brief. It's Dec. 1 now. Swearing in, I believe, is Jan. 20 for whoever is the elected person. And having that additional seat filled on a decision of such magnitude to the City of Fort Pierce and its residents is critically important,” he said.
Commissioner Arnold Gaines strongly opposed reopening the process, suggesting Gillette’s removal from consideration may have been justified.
“I've had officers come to me and say, ‘Please don't do it. Please break up the cliques in the Fort Pierce Police Department.’ I'm telling you what they've told me,” Gaines said.
Gaines also said the commission should not delay the decision or direct the choice, arguing that it rests with City Manager Richard Chess under the city charter.
“That's why I'm so frustrated right now, because we're picking to choose what the charter says. Nowhere in this charter does it say we tell the City Manager who to pick. We have a City Attorney. We have a City Manager. That's who we direct. Everything else falls under the City Manager. The charter says the City Manager picks the Police Chief,” he said.
Commissioner Curtis Johnson echoed Gaines’ concerns and defended the vetting process used to narrow the field.
“There was a committee that took this list of seven or so applicants and had a process they went through and asked questions. As a result of that, they derived three or four candidates. It's been back and forth, whatever. And for whatever reasons, their questions and that group of people came down to where we are right now,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that the department’s challenges require an impartial leader.
“There is something going on in our Police Department that I'm not sure who can solve it. I don't know if an internal person can solve it or an external person can solve it. When they're dealing with problems and challenges on both sides, you have to come in and not have any favorites. You have to come in and call balls and strikes on issues and facts,” he said.
Mayor Linda Hudson sided with Broderick, pointing to criticism of the previous chief for hiring from outside the department.
“But one of the things that our officers objected to is that she did bring a lot of people from the outside. And some of those people worked out and some of those people didn't. And some of those people stayed and some of those people didn't. One of the things that I would have liked from the process is we are now going to be interviewing three finalists, but we don't have anything to compare to our own internal candidate,” Hudson said.
City Manager Richard Chess said his focus remains solely on selecting the best leader for the department.
“I went for that candidate, I would say, that showed the most experienced leadership understanding of where that department should be going. I'm not going into the internal strife. I'm hearing this and hearing that. I've gotten no clue from both sides. Longevity has its place, but experience and leadership has a better place for me,” Chess said.
No vote was taken on whether to reinstate Gillette as a finalist after the commission split 2-2. The commission interviewed the remaining three candidates on Dec. 3, with a final decision expected Dec. 8.