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Rye To Have Community Input On Police Commissioner Search

RYE, N.Y. -- Rye is preparing to begin the search process for a new police commissioner to replace William Connors, who will be retiring in January.

Rye officials will be reaching out to members of the community as it begins the process of finding a replacement for retiring Police Commissioner William Connors.

Rye officials will be reaching out to members of the community as it begins the process of finding a replacement for retiring Police Commissioner William Connors.

Photo Credit: The Daily Voice File Photo

The city will be utilizing the services of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), a professional search firm, to aid in selecting candidates for the position. One of the key components of the search will be discussions with the community on creating a candidate profile for the new commissioner.

"There is a community outreach component to this which is fairly vigorous," said City Manager Scott Pickup. "The goal here is to build a community consensus about what the candidate profile looks like, what the department and community issues are relating to the police, and then also looking to make sure that, in the candidate search, that you identify and bring in candidates who meet those criteria."

The first phase of the search would involve ICMA contacting community members and stakeholders and organizations such as the schools, businesses and other large organizations that would have dealings with the new commissioner.

"They would also come to the department and interview people who are on the job, they interview the existing management staff and they also interview other jurisdictions to see if there are regional issues that impact policing here. And they look at statistics to have sort of a general overview of what the department currently does," Pickup said

Once the candidate profile is created, it would fall to the city to narrow down the candidates, interview them and make a decision. Pickup said that the entire process could take three to five months before a candidate is selected.

There is still a question of when ICMA would be contracted and the search process would begin. The City Council is scheduled to vote at its Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting on whether to appropriate $40,000 for ICMA services. However, Mayor-elect Joe Sack and newly elected City Council members Terry McCartney and Kirstin Bucci feel that the process should start once the new City Council takes office in January.

"We have a new council coming in, and I think it would make the most sense to start fresh with the new council rather than to begin this process at the tail end of the year," Sack said. "If there's going to be any decision-making going on, even if it's about how the process should proceed, it really should include and involve the new council." 

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