City may bring back former chief as interim
Punzel was chief from mid 1960s through mid 1990s
Leaders of the city of Sandy are considering whether they want to re-hire Fred Punzel to serve as police chief from the time Chief Harold Skelton leaves until a new chief is hired.
Skelton is retiring from the police department, effective at the end of November, and a new chief is not expected to be on the job until March 2010.
Punzel, who served as Sandy police chief from the mid-’60s to the mid-’90s, was recommended for the interim position by City Manager Scott Lazenby.
But Lazenby did not ask the council for a decision Monday night. Instead, he invited Punzel to attend the council meeting to answer councilors’ questions.
As an alternative, should any councilor have reservations about hiring Punzel, Lazenby suggested hiring a senior officer from the city of Gresham, the city of West Linn or the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department.
Lazenby called Punzel a “known quantity,” and said it’s an advantage for Punzel to have worked with the people who are key in managing the department, but not be well known to the majority of the officers – who were hired since his retirement.
“I think (Punzel) is a trusted figure,” Lazenby said, “and that’s why I am comfortable with him working with staff and making recommendations and observations and giving advice that will help me as well as the (hired) chief.”
Mayor Linda Malone prefers the idea of an interim chief who isn’t currently connected with the department.
“(Punzel) has been away for a number of years,” Malone said, “and he brings his experience, but also looks at the department with fresh eyes – not having been in charge for a number of years. He can see things that someone who has been in the midst of it hasn’t seen or can’t see.”
There is little concern, Lazenby told the council, that Punzel does not have certification from the Board of Public Safety Standards and Training. The city manager also is not concerned that Punzel might not have kept up with police issues and practices that have changed over the years since his retirement.
“Chiefs have 12 months to get recertified,” Lazenby wrote in his staff report to the council, “and the interim role would be well under this time requirement.”
The changing issues and practices are of little concern, since the department’s staff has stayed current with best practices, Lazenby told the council.
“I am confident that (Punzel) would respect and draw from their knowledge,” he said. “The fundamentals of good leadership have not changed.”
Punzel told the council he would try to stabilize the department, which he assumed was suffering under what he called the traumatic events of the past several years, including lawsuits, police shootings, sex scandals and the untimely death of one of the officers.
“With the tragic situations they’ve had over the last couple or three years,” he told the council, “each and every member of that department has been traumatized.
“Being from the outside, I think I can fit in and work through that and get the teamwork back and get continuity in the department.”
The council could take formal action on hiring an interim police chief at its Nov. 16 meeting, especially if Lazenby finds consensus among the councilors before that meeting.