Above: November 17th will mark the official retirement of Southborough Police Chief Jane Moran. Moran has served the department for 30 years, in the role of Chief for close to five of them.
(Photo by Susan Fitzgerald)
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to appoint Jeffrey Roy as interim chief to the Southborough Police Department.
Roy is scheduled to step in on November 18, the day after current Chief Jane Moran’s retirement.
Town Administrator, Mark Purple, made the recommendation to selectmen. Both the interim position and candidate were recommended to him by the town’s hiring consultant, BadgeQuest.
Purple explained to selectmen that having an interim chief makes for a smoother transition. He reminded them of the success that they had with the interim Fire Chief after the retirement of Chief John Mauro Jr.
Roy will work for the town 2-3 days per week until the position is filled. Selectman John Roony queried whether an interim chief would get up to speed quickly enough to be worth hiring.
Purple said that he didn’t have the bandwidth to oversee the department this fall and believed it should be supervised by someone with expertise. He anticipated that selectmen will be able to interview candidates on December 16. But he cautioned that it could take several weeks before a new hire is in place.
The job of interim chief is one Roy has recent experience with. He filled the interim spot for Westwood in January through June of this year.
Roy has a long career in law enforcement, beginning as a patrolman in 1975 and progressing to his almost 10 years as Chief of Police for Orleans.
I’m confused as to why we are hiring an interim police chief. Didn’t the police department & town created a lieutenant position to oversee and run the department …should need be? That’s what Moran stated when she requested the position…she needed another administrator to help run the department.
The 2nd in command, that we were told had to be funded to help with the operation of the SPD…costing the taxpayers thousand of dollars, can’t oversee the police department for several weeks? The Town knew that Jane was not coming back in May and for some reason failed to act in a timely enough fashion to avoid spending more tax money on nonsense? So here we are again spending more money without being told why….makes you wonder what’s really going on within the police department. Remember Jane was a sergeant and was allowed to oversee the police department for months until a chief was hired. But then again, we are being told that she’s retiring when it’s clear that the BOS were not going to renew her contract despite her public comments that she would prefer one.
In reference to “spending more money without being told why.” Agree with it or not, there was a reason given for why.
Mark Purple informed selectmen that BadgeQuest advised the best way to fill the gap was an interim chief. The consultant’s advice was that if the candidate selected ends up being external, transition works better if an interim chief is in place rather than having an internal temporary chief.
I would agree with that to a point. When Chief Webber got sick and there was not a concrete date of when he would no longer be able to work; No one could foresee the future and he had a right to work as long as he could…therefore a gap was inevitable and that made sense. However, a gap was not necessary or unavoidable here. The BOS had May,June, July, August, September and October with the knowledge of her exact departure date. Therefore, why not start the process then without creating this avoidable gap?
If, goodness forbid, something happened to the Chief or the Chief went on vacation, would you need an Interim Chief, or would the LT lead the department in her/his absense? That is my question on why the money for the position or an Interim Chief. Next in line heads the department in case of a gap and there is a reason they are not doing it this way, which did not exist last time around as there was no LT, and they are not being forthcoming.
When BadgeQuest held the contract last time, did they offer the same advice? (since the BOS put a Sgt in charge as Interim Chief) Or did the BOS decide to ignore the advice back then, much like it appears they ignored BadgeQuest’s test scores (ie:advice)? As stated before, if this is not true, please publish the former test scores as other towns do. And, will we be spending all of that tax money for the process again and refuse to make it public…again?
Taylor,
I believe the selection of a temporary Chief at this time is a wise decision. If the Lt were to assume the Chief’s role, who would fill the Lt’s role, etc.
Also, lurking in the background on this whole issue is that the Lt is applying for the Chief’s job. Perhaps selection of the Lt as the acting Chief would send a message to other applicants that the Lt was the favored candidate for the position. (I have no knowledge of the Lt’s suitability for this position and have no opinion on who should become the next Chief.)
Overall, this is a wise move by the Selectmen.
It has come to my attenton that the Lt. in the Police Department has been told that he will not go any further in the job of Police Chief he was the only officer in the Southboro Police to apply for the Chief’s position he was told by Badquest who called him They caught the news from the Screening Commitee He never even ot the chance to go the assesment center. The Selectmen went outside the department many years aago and they are still paying for that blunder.