City administrator
named acting chief
of police
By GREG
STAHL
Express Staff Writer
With little
public notice and no public discussion, the Ketchum City Council Tuesday morning
unanimously confirmed Mayor Ed Simon’s appointment of City Administrator Ron
LeBlanc to the post of acting police chief.
Councilman
Maurice Charlat was absent.
Ron
LeBlanc, Ketchum city
administrator and acting police chief
The affair took
roughly two minutes and was the only significant agenda item for a meeting that
began at 8 a.m. The result is that LeBlanc will head the police department until
a new police chief is hired, which is expected early in the new year.
Shortly after
LeBlanc was sworn in, the council convened in executive session to begin
interviewing three of six police chief finalists.
"That really
sucks," exclaimed Mickey Garcia, a public meetings habitué, as the council
moved on to other business.
Public notice for
the Tuesday morning meeting arrived at the Idaho Mountain Express on Nov. 21,
but the LeBlanc appointment was added roughly 18 hours before the meeting
commenced.
Though the notice
and agenda amendment were within the letter of the law, Garcia said that not
enough time was given for the public to contribute to the discussion.
In a Monday
interview, Simon said the appointment of the city administrator as acting police
chief is "not standard."
"But because
it looks like we won’t have someone hired until at least the end of January, I
wanted to make sure we have someone in there who can manage the day-to-day
activities and personnel issues, and to make sure we have a smooth transfer from
the past to the future," Simon said.
Assistant Police
Chief, Mike McNeil declined to comment.