Ronan narrows police chief candidate pool
Megan Strickland
Mayor Kim Aipperspach looks at a police chief application.
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RONAN – Members of the Ronan City Council and Ronan Police Commission have narrowed the number of candidates for police chief from seven applicants to two finalists, though some city councilmembers expressed doubt the two finalists would be willing to move to the area for the small salary the position offers.
If the candidates express interest in moving to Ronan to fill the $19 per hour position, the hiring process will move forward, city officials said. If neither of the candidates is interested or able to make it through the hiring process, the city may be forced to reconsider outsourcing the department.
“Having (the mayor) as a police chief is not what this town needs,” Police Commissioner Mark Nelson said.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach has served as police chief intermittently since July 2013 when longtime chief Dan Wadsworth was stripped of his law enforcement credentials for allegedly falsifying the Montana Law Enforcement Academy application of his son Trevor. Since that time the town has seen two police chiefs, including one who left amid competence questions after 10 weeks on the job and another who was demoted after a couple months on the job for unspecified reasons.
The council was set to hire a chief in early June, until a police commissioner raised questions about the legality of the hiring process. After spending a month revamping the hiring process, the council advertised for the position.
Councilmembers were careful to hold the applicants to a strict standard as they searched for finalists. Packets that had missing photos, information, or documentation were thrown out of the running. Aipperspach and some council members lamented that some applicants who would have made good candidates for chief did not fill out a complete application during this application period, although the applicants had submitted a complete packet previously.
The council questioned whether it could review previous applications, but decided against it for legal purposes.
“I don’t want any more lawsuits,” City Clerk Kaylene Melton said as council members weighed their options. The city is facing one class action and one wrongful termination lawsuit.
One finalist isn’t likely to take the job in Ronan because he requested an $80,000 salary, city councilmembers said. It is unknown whether the other applicant will be willing to accept the job. According to the Montana League of Cities and Towns 2014 Salary Survey, Ronan has the lowest police chief salary of any of the 31 municipal agencies that responded.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach said he would let the city council know if the applicants are still interested in the job, given the salary.
