In September the City of Turlock hired Teri Black & Company LLC, an executive recruitment firm, to start the process of hiring a new Turlock Police Chief. Former Turlock Police Chief Gary Hampton resigned as of July 31, 2011. The cost of the recruitment services will be $25,000 and is within the existing Police Department budget that previously would have been the Police Chief’s salary.

The Professional Service Agreement with Teri Black & Company LLC defines providing the following services:
1) Establish job requirements, obtain appropriate stakeholder feedback and develop a candidate profile.
2) Prepare recruitment brochure and place advertising.
3) Execute Direct Mail Campaign and Personal Outreach Strategy.
– Distribute brochure to network
– Identify and Contact referral services
– Identify and Contact potential candidates
4) Conduct preliminary screening.
5) Prepare report summarizing results of the recruitment process and assist in the selection of finalists.
6) Assist client in design and implementation of the final selection process; prepare materials and facilitate selection activities.
7) Assist with coordination of background and reference checks.
8) Facilitate negotiations and transition details with candidate selected.

City staff reported at the December 13, 2011, City Council Meeting that the recruitment firm is on step 4 and 5 of the process. Recruitment closed on December 4, 2011, and applicants are currently being screened by Teri Clack & Company, LLC. Just over 40 applications were received for the position. Of those, 40 have been confirmed and a few are in pending status.

Once the recruiters have narrowed down the pool to qualified applicants, they will conduct phone interviews. A report will then be given to the City of Turlock to discuss the applicant pool and decide how many applicants are to move forward in the process. An estimated 12 top candidates will move forward to steps 6 and 7 of the process representing the strongest and best fits for Turlock. Ultimately, the top three candidates will be interviewed by City Council for their input and final selection sometime in January.

"I believe we have a strong candidate pool and that we will find an outstanding Police Chief to continue the great work of Chief Hampton,” said Turlock City Manager Roy Wasden. “This is a critically important appointment for the City of Turlock."

Wasden personally knows how important a Police Chief appointment is as he was the Modesto Police Chief just before being hired by the Turlock City Council as the Turlock City Manager in May of 2009.

In the meantime, current Interim Police Chief Dave Young’s agreement for 960 hours will likely be met by January 13th, 2012. To provide a buffer of time to allow the process to move forward and time for the new Police Chief to take his position, the City Council approved extending that agreement until March 14th, 2012.

The City Council had to approve a formal request to CalPERS Board of Administrators since Dave Young retired from City of Modesto and is limited to the number of hours he can serve on retirement.

The item was on the Consent Calendar but was pulled for further discussion due to concern about the budget.

Vice Mayor Bublak expressed concern that the City is expending money on the interim and does not have a solid date set for the hiring of a new Police Chief.

Wasden indicated that the current budget for Police Chief is $26,000 per month.

Gary Hampton’s annual compensation was $182,580, before recent concessions, while receiving $60 month for cell phone/technology, a car equipped for emergency service, and a $1,200 uniform allowance (lump sum).The cost for the interim Police Chief has ranged from $16,000 to $20,000 per month from August through November.

Based on the cost of recruitment and the cost of vacation time, and such for outgoing Chief Hampton, City staff estimated that the full budget would be available for hiring the new Police Chief by December.

The recruitment firm and staff believe that the goal of hiring the new Police Chief in January will be met. It is expected to be on the City Council agenda no later than January 24th.