Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger suspended the city’s search for a permanent police chief Friday afternoon, saying that not enough viable candidates applied for the position at its current salary level.
Weinberger made his decision in response to findings by the Police Search Committee. Of the 21 candidates who applied for the position, only two met the minimum qualifications for the job, the committee said.
Now, Weinberger has asked city councilors to raise the position’s salary and hire an “expert recruitment firm” in a bid to strengthen the pool of applicants.
“Chiefs committed to 21st Century Policing are in high demand nationally, and securing a strong pool will require heightened efforts,” Weinberger wrote in an email to councilors. “It is clear that this effort cannot be successful without new support from Councilors.”
Weinberger cited “numerous actions” taken by the council that he believes also contributed to the lack of qualified responses, including the passage of a proposed ordinance that would reduce the police chief’s authority.
Weinberger said he arrived at the conclusions after speaking with “multiple national experts and several potential candidates who chose not to apply.”
But City Council President Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, balked at the mayor’s statement, saying it was Weinberger’s actions that “eroded trust” in the police department.
Tracy pointed to the fallout from former Chief Brandon del Pozo’s resignation, which occurred after del Pozo lied about running a social media account that attacked one of his critics. Court records show that Weinberger knew about the former chief’s behavior earlier than he initially let on.
“Let’s be clear: The reason we’re having a police chief search is because the last chief left as a result of a social media scandal that was covered up by this administration,” Tracy said in an interview.
In an email responding to Tracy’s statement, Weinberger spokesperson Samantha Sheehan called the characterization “a reach,” saying Tracy’s remarks were “not responsive to the acute public safety challenges facing the City today.”
Del Pozo’s resignation was swiftly followed by the resignation of Deputy Chief Jan Wright, who also resigned for using anonymous social media accounts to engage with detractors.
The department has had two acting police chiefs since del Pozo stepped down: Jennifer Morrison, who resigned in 2020 after city councilors reduced the maximum number of officers the department could hire, and Jon Murad, who currently holds the position.
Murad is one of the two qualified candidates identified by the search committee, Weinberger told councilors.
As of Thursday, Murad and the other qualified candidate were screened by the city’s human resources department and had scheduled appointments for an interview, Sheehan said.
But those interviews were put on hold after Weinberger met with the Police Search Committee Thursday night, Sheehan said. The meeting was a follow-up to one held Monday, which the mayor called after committee members raised concerns about the lack of qualified applicants.
The committee — which includes Councilors Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, and Jane Stromberg, P-Ward 8 — recommended to the mayor that the city “not continue this process with only this current pool” of applicants, Weinberger said.
Weinberger previously suspended the search for a permanent police chief in April 2020, citing the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In seeking a higher salary for the position, Weinberger said he wants to match the wages offered by seven cities that officials say offer municipal employee salaries comparable to those paid by Burlington, including Madison, Wisconsin; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Boulder, Colorado.
Burlington’s chief position has a listed salary range of $119,000 to $132,000.
According to data from the Police Executive Research Forum, the average chief salary for the seven cities was $158,700. An official from that organization recommended a salary range of $130,000 to $160,000.
Two New England cities on the list — Portland, Maine and Concord, New Hampshire — had chief salaries of $129,700 and $134,000, respectively, according to the data.
Weinberger said he intends to propose a number of measures to the City Council in hopes that they will approve them at their Nov. 15 meeting.
When asked if he would support the mayor’s recommendations, Tracy said he would wait and see what the mayor proposes.
“I want to see his full plan,” Tracy said.