Several of you have asked about the status of the police chief search, so here you go.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Sal Giorlandino told me the search committee finished interviewing candidates last week. The committee will next meet in executive session (closed to the public) on September 30 to discuss the interviews and select two or three finalists to recommend to selectmen.
Selectmen will have final say over who is hired.
Giorlandino confirmed that search committee member John Rooney resigned from the committee on Monday, but said he could not discuss the reasons because doing so might reveal confidential information shared during executive session.
Giorlandino called the interview process “thorough” and said the committee did great work.
All finalists will be evaluated using an assessment center. Giorlandino described the assessment center evaluation as “like a final exam” that will put candidates through exercises to measure leadership and management skills.
The assessment center the town will use is BadgeQuest out of West Yarmouth. BadgeQuest was founded by former Waltham Police Chief Stephen Unsworth. Unsworth will meet with selectmen in early October to lay out the roadmap for the process.
Unsworth, who spent a total of 30 years with the Waltham Police Department, the last 11 as chief, also assisted with the search committee interviews.
(For more information on the search for a new police chief, click here.)
I’d really like to know why Mr. Rooney resigned from the Police Chief Search Committee. I have heard from many area Chiefs that “the Southborough process stinks like three day old fish” I am beginning to believe them because I can smell it from where I sit and I am not too far away.
Keep to your word folks, You said the process would be transparent, so clear the air Southborough and tell us why very qualified candidates never even had a chance to interview – not even a Thank You for applying letter. This is not the Southborough I once knew.