Ketchum Police Chief Cory Lyman will leave law enforcement to head the Office of Emergency Preparedness in Salt Lake City, where he worked previously as a captain with the city's police department.
Lyman's appointment as director of the agency had yet to be announced Tuesday by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, but Lyman said Monday that "the deal's done."
Lyman is in Connecticut this week but is expected to return to Ketchum by Monday, Sept. 15.
"I've been kind of waiting for them to announce it," he said, referring to officials in Salt Lake City.
Lynam announced he was leaving his Ketchum job at a City Council meeting on Sept. 2. At that time he described his new job as a "high-profile" position" in Utah.
The police chief's departure from his $110,380 annual Ketchum salary won't come until Oct. 17. Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall said last week that Assistant Police Chief Mike McNeil will likely serve as interim chief until a new permanent chief is appointed.
Additional information was not available from the Salt Lake City mayor's office on Tuesday, but Lyman's appointment was confirmed by the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness, which oversees planning and coordination for emergency response to natural disasters, hazardous materials incidents and terrorism.
Assistant Planner Audrey Pierce said the agency prepares emergency plans for other departments in the city, coordinates emergency response during disasters or incidents, manages an emergency operations center and provides information to the public on preparations for emergencies.
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Lyman will return to Salt Lake City after five years as Ketchum's police chief.
"It's a great opportunity and I couldn't pass it up," he said. "It has nothing to do with any of the political things going on in Ketchum."
Lyman was recently criticized in Ketchum for the police department's handling of evidence in the Deborah A. Reimer second-degree attempted murder case, which was dismissed in March on a motion filed by Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas, who wrote that the evidence was in such a condition that he would be unable to present it at trial.
Reimer had been accused of firing two shots at her former boyfriend at his home in south Ketchum on July 18, 2007.
Lead investigator Ken Martinez resigned from the Ketchum Police Department during an Idaho Attorney General's Office investigation into evidence handling in the Reimer case. However, Lyman publicly accepted responsibility for mistakes made by the department.
Lyman was also criticized for his handling of the high-profile Elizabeth Smart kidnapping in Salt Lake City in 2002. As a captain with the Salt Lake City police, Lyman was in charge of a task force investigating the disappearance of the 14-year-old girl. He also admitted to mistakes in that case and said he was overjoyed when Smart was found some nine months after her disappearance.
On the other hand, Ketchum's Mayor Hall has praised Lyman for his leadership during last summer's Castle Rock Fire that threatened the town and recreational assets at Sun Valley.
Cory Lyman
