Police and Fire Commission Told To Look Internally For Candidates

The hiring of permanent replacements for two of the city's stalwart leaders began to slowly take shape Monday as the Police and Fire Commission was strongly urged to look at internal candidates for both positions. 

The city's human resources director Ben Granberg told commissioners they are not obligated to undertake an extensive search for outside candidates to fill the two positions. 

"The nice thing about the police command staff and the fire command staff is that you have a built-in succession planned," said Granberg, who was flanked by police deputy inspector Brad Wentlandt, and Interim Fire Chief Jon Cohn. 

Wentlandt will assume the role of interim police chief when . Cohn was , replacing Russ Spahn, who . 

Spahn, , was hired after a nationwide search, the type Granberg indicated may not be needed. Spahn was assistant chief in Greenfield for 14 years before he was hired as chief. 

"I thought then and I really believe it now that it was a travesty. It was an outrageous waste of city resources," said Springob, making it clear that he was speaking strictly as a Greenfield resident and taxpayer and not as a city official. 

Commissioners inquired where they could find information on the process the city went through to hire Spahn and were told the information is stored in a locked file cabinet in City Hall.

"I don't know if anyone in City Hall has the keys to it, the file cabinet itself," Granberg said. 

Commissioner Bob Selin handed out to other commissioners a thick packet of information and documents he obtained from a source within the City of Whitewater, where an interim police chief was recently appointed. The information consisted of request for proposals and responses from various consulting firms, which includes pricing.     

Selin suggested during the next meeting that commission discuss whether to hire a consultant and the process to update the job descriptions.

No formal action was taken during the meeting in regard to the hiring process.