For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

New police chief boasts 20 years of experience

---

By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum’s new police chief said Tuesday that, after 20 years in Salt Lake City, working in the Wood River Valley will be an opportunity to work on police department effectiveness rather than efficiencies.

"In Salt Lake, it’s more about efficiency rather than effectiveness," said Cory Lyman, captain of the Salt Lake City Police Department’s detective division. "I’m excited to go to a place where it’s about effectiveness."

Lyman, 45, was born in Utah and first visited Ketchum as a boy. The Big Wood River is the first place he caught a fish with a fly rod, he said.

"I’m really excited. It’s kind of like a dream job to me," Lyman said about the Ketchum police chief position. He is scheduled to report for duty by early February.

Lyman has 13 years of management experience, more than four years of tactical management experience, seven years of experience in narcotics enforcement and more than three years of communications center management experience.

Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon said city council members and the seven-member citizen panel that helped hire Lyman was clearly impressed.

"It was a unanimous decision to select Cory," Simon said. "When you interview a lot of different candidates, his answers were clear, concise and directly to the question asked. He was very articulate, very professional."

That’s not to say, however, the hiring went off without any hitches.

Council President Randy Hall said he was dismayed to learn that Simon had offered Lyman the job at $85,000 per year, when the mayor and city council had discussed a range of $70,000 to $80,000.

"I was clear on the range, and I am absolutely crystal clear that the mayor went outside the range," Hall said. "The mayor needs to know the council is on board before he puts forward an offer."

Though Lyman said he had better paying offers from other police departments, he chose Ketchum for his new home.

"I would have gone there to work," he said. "I’m going to Ketchum to live."

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.