Ceres recruiting for police chief

The city on Wednesday opened the application period for the position of police chief.

The position was created last month when the City Council voted to dissolve the Department of Public Safety in favor of creating separate police and fire departments.

The restructuring came three months after former Director of Public Safety Art de Werk was abruptly relieved of his duties and signed a contract agreeing not to speak ill of the city. As part of the agreement, de Werk remains on the city payroll until February, around the time City Manager Toby Wells said he hopes to have a new chief in place.

Lt. Brent Smith has been the acting chief since de Werk’s departure in June.

He said Wednesday that he will apply for the position. He has been a lieutenant since 2007 and was a sergeant for 10 years. He served as a military police officer in the Army for four years before joining the Ceres Police Department in 1993.

The department’s other lieutenant, Rick Collins, said he is interested in the position but hasn’t decided whether he will apply.

Collins has been a lieutenant for six years and was a sergeant for four years. He joined the department in 1992.

The city posted the job announcement on its website and the Police Department’s Facebook page, as well as job boards and publications geared toward people seeking jobs in law enforcement and local government.

Wells said a similar process was used to find the city’s new engineer, Daryl Jordan, who was hired last month. Sixteen people applied for the job.

Wells said the recruitment process will be overseen by the city’s new human resources analyst, a position for which he advocated to address the turnover in key department head positions.

“Six months ago, I didn’t have (an analyst), so I probably would have had an outside consultant do the recruitment,” he said.

In addition to the police chief and engineer positions, the city also must find someone to fill the newly created fire chief position, as well as replace Sheila Cumberland, who retired as the city’s finance director earlier this month.

The final date to apply for police chief is Dec. 15. The salary range offered for the position is $9,119 to $11,085 a month.

This story was originally published November 19, 2014 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Ceres recruiting for police chief."