Officials hope to hire new chief by summer
City manager expects job to be posted for three weeks to attract applicants
Boulder hopes to hire a new police chief by this summer, according to Nuria Rivera-vandermyde, city manager.
Rivera-vandermyde said during a recent meeting of the city’s Police Oversight Panel that an external recruiter is currently updating a job description for a new Boulder police chief. The job is temporarily being filled by Interim Chief Stephen Redfearn following the departure of former Chief Maris Herold in January. When Herold was hired in 2020, her annual salary was announced as $185,000, and she was eligible for up to $100,000 in home assistance to live in Boulder.
City officials also are preparing a survey to be sent to “critical stakeholders” in the community, and a recruitment brochure and website are in the making, Rivera-vandermyde said.
“You are all a part of those critical stakeholders,” Rivera-vandermyde said to the panel. “We’re also going to be soliciting input from other community organizations as well as faith leaders in our community, critical stakeholders that police interact with across the community, really soliciting inputs on candidate desired characteristics.”
Rivera-vandermyde said she’s hopeful the job posting will be made in early May, and she expects it will remain open for three weeks.
The city manager said while most positions have a two-week window for applications, the three-week period was decided on to allow people nationwide the opportunity to apply.
During the meeting, panelist Bill de la Cruz asked Riveravandermyde how extensively the firm is considering the racial diversity of candidates. In response, Rivera-vandermyde said she has been pleased with what she has seen thus far. But the city manager noted that she has been disappointed by the lack of diversity in some previous recruitments.
“When I got the job description for the chief, there was a lot of red in my editing of that description, because there was very little racial equity in that initial description,” Rivera-vandermyde said. “We have changed that substantially. They are now looking at it as well. That is critical to me in any of my executive positions as we move forward. So we’ll see what comes from that recruitment, but I have been happy with the results of our engagement so far.”
Rivera-vandermyde added that some members of the panel will be on the interview panels and will be able to ask the candidates further questions. The panel is made up of members of the community and representatives from the police department and the city government and an independent attorney. It was created in 2020, a year after a Boulder police officer confronted a Black Naropa student in front of his home
As the early stages of recruitment are underway, Rivera-vandermyde said she doesn’t know specifics yet as to when panel interviews will happen and a candidate will be chosen.
“We will hopefully have a chief in place by the summer,” she said. “We’re excited about it. I think it’s a really good opportunity. We hope to get good candidates as we move forward.”