Nationwide search coming for Fresno police chief job. What’s next?

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As Fresno city leaders, police and the public come to terms with the resignation of police Chief Paco Balderrama, City Manager Georgeanne White is setting the course for a nationwide search to find his replacement.

It’s a process that, prior to this month, few expected to be necessary – at least not this soon. Balderrama, who was sworn in as the city’s first Latino chief in January 2021, had previously said he expected to serve in Fresno for at least 10 years.

Under Fresno’s city charter and strong-mayor system of government, the city manager in the mayor’s administration has the authority to hire the police chief. On Wednesday, White told The Fresno Bee that the city will hire a consultant to aid in the search, but that the rest of the process is yet to be set.

“I’m not at that point yet to be able to make a statement on what that process will be,” she said. “We’re going to sit and have a discussion once the dust settles.”

Balderrama’s downfall came after a five-month investigation by the city into an alleged affair he was having with the wife of Jordan Wamhoff, a subordinate officer, former high-ranking police union official and currently a Madera County supervisor.

Deputy Chief Mindy Casto is serving as interim chief as Balderamma, 47, finishes out his tenure on July 25.

White said that the decision to have a nationwide search does not exclude internal candidates. There have already been rumblings from some observers that the potential field may include Casto or Mark Salazar, another deputy chief within the department who unsuccessfully ran for Fresno County sheriff in 2022.

White said she and her administrative team were tied up in preparations for a City Council meeting this week, but added that she expects to meet with Mayor Jerry Dyer and the administrative team at City Hall as early as Friday and into next week “to think about what the right process will be.”

“I’ve never been involved in a police chief search, but I have been involved in searches for other department directors,” she said. Hiring a search firm could cost between $10,000 and $40,000, “based on what we’ve paid for past searches.”

“Generally, high-level recruitments like this can take four to five months,” she added.

Some critics have already called for a greater degree of community involvement in the selection of a new police chief. “We encourage the mayor and the city to convene a citizens’ advisory committee to help select the next chief,” Sandra Celedon, president/CEO of the advocacy group Fresno Building Healthy Communities, said in a statement issued Tuesday. “We need to get this right.”

“The mayor and the city made a major mistake three-plus years ago when they hired Balderrama,” Celedon added.

How it’s been done before

Balderrama, who was the deputy police chief in Oklahoma City before he came to Fresno, was the first chief to be hired from outside of the department in almost 30 years. His selection was the result of a national search launched by then-Mayor Lee Brand and then-City Manager Wilma Quan in 2020.

It was the second effort at a nationwide search since the retirement of Jerry Dyer after 18 years as chief and 40 years with the police department.

In the first search attempt in 2019, after conducting months of community outreach and winnowing the candidates to five finalists, Brand and Quan announced they chose Deputy Chief Andy Hall, a 40-year FPD veteran who did not apply for the top position, to be the next chief.

But under terms of the city’s Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) that allows older employees to continue working while diverting pension payments to a supplemental retirement fund, Hall had to retire by early 2021. The same policy also had prompted Dyer’s retirement. Hall’s retirement coincided with Balderrama’s hiring.

The 2019 process included hiring a search firm to vet candidates. Brand launched a screening program that promised “community engagement on a scale and magnitude never before seen in the Central Valley.” It included online surveys in English, Spanish and Hmong asking residents what issues and challenges a new chief should understand and address. The surveys also asked what qualities residents wanted to see in the next chief. Community meetings were also held throughout the city to collect community input in the process.

Hall’s hiring led to complaints and protests that the community’s opinions were ignored. It also sparked a proposal by City Councilmember Nelson Esparza to allow the City Council to weigh in on who should lead the police and fire departments by wielding authority to approve compensation contracts.

Esparza and Brand ultimately reached a compromise that would allow three council members to participate in panels to interview finalists in the next search for a police chief.

The search that culminated in Balderrama’s hiring began in July 2020, with Dyer – who by that time was mayor-elect – working with Brand. While Brand had previously resolved to hire the next chief before he left office at the start of 2021, Dyer also expressed interest in choosing the successor for his old job. The collaboration, Dyer said, would allow Brand to honor his commitment while also providing a sense of security for candidates that they have the confidence of the next mayor.

A national search was once again conducted. After another array of community input, the process yielded three finalists: Balderrama, a prospect from Texas, and an unnamed candidate from within the Fresno Police Department. Balderrama’s hiring was announced in December 2020.

What will Fresno want in a new chief?

The search efforts that led to the hirings of Hall in 2019 and Balderrama in 2021 included community meetings and other outreach efforts.

White told The Bee that it’s too early to offer details on how much community engagement will be involved in the upcoming search. Likewise, still to be determined are what kinds of specific attributes she’ll be looking for in candidates.

But she said she will be relying very heavily on Dyer in the process.

“I’m so fortunate to have a mayor who served as police chief for 18 years … to help me structure this so that we’re getting the right person,” White said.

“We definitely want someone who’s experienced, someone who’s worked in a big city with similar challenges that we have (in Fresno), someone who’s worked in a diverse city,” White said.

“My philosophy on hiring department heads always focuses on qualifications for the job of the most qualified candidates,” she added. “We always want to do our best to have people in leadership positions be reflective of our community.”

Earlier this week, City Councilmember Mike Karbassi told The Bee that while the choice is in the hands of the city manager, he would “favor someone internal that has a reputation over the years that we can trust and is respected among the rank and file.”

“I think someone who is familiar to us is very important, given the circumstances” that led up to Balderrama’s resignation, Karbassi added.

It’s a sentiment that White said she understands.

“I think we’re at a point of heightened emotion right now given the events of late,” she said. “Comfort is always there with a known commodity. … Sometimes unknown can be scary.”

“Having said that, I’m going to do what I always do, which is figure out the process and follow the process; I always think that good process leads to good decision-making,” White added. “I think over the next few months, as we go through a process and as the department gets more settled, then we can consider what each candidate brings to the table.”