Delay to pick chiefs grows

Concern rises over city’s lack of permanent fire, police leaders

Six months after Houston’s top cop retired and 10 months after Houston’s fire chief resigned to take another job, both departments remain without permanent chiefs, prompting concerns that public safety could suffer during the transition to permanent leadership.

The delays are already among the longest in decades at a time when community pressures are mounting on local agencies.

“We need leadership right now, and no one wants to make any moves until a chief is named,” one longtime police investigator complained recently.

Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo, a Houston Police Department veteran, has led the agency since Mayor Sylvester Turner named her to the interim post in mid-February. Acting Fire Chief Rodney West has been at the helm since before Turner took office in January.

Both Montalvo and West are reportedly interested in the positions.

City officials say the administration has been occupied with passing the city’s budget, deal-

ing with historic flooding and responding to the high-profile murder of an 11-year-old boy in north Houston earlier this year and the recent, controversial shooting by police of an African-American man in south Houston.

“My preference would be to have permanent leadership for the departments to depend on and move forward with,” said Councilmember Brenda Stardig, chair of the City Council’s public safety committee. “We have to prioritize and take care of the citizens and public safety.”

Turner’s office has remained tight-lipped about the searches.

“Nothing has changed. The mayor is working on his timetable,” city spokeswoman Janice Evans said in an email. “In the meantime, both HPD and HFD are operating well. Both Chief Montalvo and Chief West meet regularly with the mayor so that he is aware of what is going on in the departments. His concern is about getting the job done rather than the personalities of who is making sure the job gets done.”

‘Seems like a long time’

Public safety leaders and other experts say the selection of a permanent police chief should be a priority for Turner’s administration, particularly with recent tensions nationwide over police interactions with the public.

“It is critical the Houston Police Department gets a permanent leader because of the police and community relations here in this city and across the country,” warned Charles McClelland, who retired as police chief in February.

With the departments eating up more than half the city’s annual budget, experts acknowledge the need for wise choices.

“It seems like an important position to fill, but this seems like a long time,” said University of South Carolina professor and policing expert Geoffrey Alpert, who was not familiar with Houston’s search but spoke generally about hiring police chiefs.

The recent delay in selecting a police chief is notably longer than past administrations dating back two decades. However, it is comparable to similar searches by mayors in other cities nationwide, said Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association.

“If you have a search firm and you’re conducting a national search, six, seven months is not at all unheard of for it to take that long,” he said.

McClelland served as acting chief about three months before then-Mayor Annise Parker named him chief in March 2010. Harold Hurtt, McClelland’s predecessor, was named two months into Bill White’s tenure as mayor; he had been chief in Phoenix.

Former City Councilmember C.O. Bradford served as acting police chief about two months for Mayor Bob Lanier before being formally appointed to the position. Then he served again as acting chief under Lanier’s successor, Mayor Lee P. Brown, himself a former Houston police chief brought in from Atlanta by Mayor Kathy Whitmire.

The interim positions can hamper leadership authority, particularly if numerous internal candidates are vying for the same job.

“You’re the interim chief,” Bradford said. “You’re the leader. You have the formal authority. But do you have power?”

Montalvo, 57, has served 36 years in the Houston Police Department. She previously served as McClelland’s chief of staff.

The fire department has had its share of turmoil and turnover as well.

Parker named West to fill the interim post after Terry Garrison resigned in October after five years as fire chief.

Parker had waited eight months after she took office before naming Garrison to head the department; he had been interim chief of the Daisy Mountain Fire District in Arizona and had spent 30 years with the Phoenix Fire Department.

Before Garrison, Phil Boriskie had served as fire chief under Mayor Bill White for about six years, and Chris Connealy — now the state fire marshal — served two years before him after an eight-month stint as interim chief.

West joined HFD in 1990. After working his

way up to Deputy Chief of Communication, he was appointed as an assistant chief, running the Communications division and the Special Events and Special Projects division. He was appointed acting fire chief on Oct. 31, 2015.

Outgoing fire union President Alvin White did not respond to several requests for comment.

Ongoing search

Turner has tapped Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search firm, to assist in the recruitment of both police and fire chiefs.

“He’s making sure whatever selection he makes won’t come back to haunt him at a later date,” said Larry Karson, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Houston-Downtown. “Right now, he has acting chiefs that are addressing his concerns, so for a short period of time, allowing them to continue in those positions, if they’re willing to do so, means that he’s getting continuity.”

The mayor has refused to provide information about the process or the names of finalists for the position, unlike mayors in years past. Stephen Newton, the Russell Reynolds executive assigned to the searches, declined to comment.

Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, refused to talk to the Houston Chronicle about the search, and the union’s executive director, Mark Clark, did not respond to several requests for comment.

Law enforcement veterans,

however, fear the lack of a permanent leader could exacerbate tensions between police and the public.

“There are people in the community who want to start discussing things, start formulating networks, but are apprehensive because they don’t know if you’re going to be driving policy forward,” Bradford said.

Community leaders, meanwhile, are split on the need for prompt action.

“If I have a problem, and I need to speak to the chief, I wouldn’t do it,” said Vincent Dickson, a local activist and member of the People’s New Black Panther Party. “I can’t trust her (Montalvo) because I don’t know what the hell is going on. Because I don’t feel comfortable with it.”

James Douglas, president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP, said community relations haven’t suffered in the interim.

“If I thought we were having a problem with the present chief, I would probably be complaining,” Douglas said. “I haven’t seen the delay having a negative effect on what’s happening with policing in Houston.”

Johnny Mata, of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, said he hopes to meet with city leaders soon about the process.

“It’s an important position,” Mata said. “I just think the selection — I think it should be coming around soon, hopefully.”