Official wants review of new assistant chief hire
A Columbus deputy police chief has filed paperwork asking the city’s Civil Service Commission to review the hiring of the city’s first assistant chief, a Detroit colleague of Columbus’ new chief.
Deputy Chief Ken Kuebler filed the formal paperwork Tuesday morning asking for a review of how Detroit police Capt. Lashanna Potts was hired. He said his goal was for the process to be fair to all applicants.
Potts was hired by the city on June 7 to be an assistant chief for incoming police chief Elaine Bryant, who had previously been a deputy chief in Detroit.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, which sets the standards for how civil service operates across the state, the commission is required to review the list of applicants for any position, including the assistant chief position; create an eligibility list based on the job requirements and those who applied; and give that list to the hiring person or agency for consideration.
To date, no list has been created and Potts was hired outside of the civil service process, with her application being received by the city about 20 minutes after an offer letter had been sent to her, according to records obtained by The Dispatch.
Potts was one of 16 people who applied for the position. To date, no other interviews or offers have been made to fill the position. Of the 16 total candidates, seven are from within the Columbus Division of Police, including Kuebler and deputy chiefs Tim Becker and Jennifer Knight.
The assistant police chief position was created in February during a special meeting of the city’s Civil Service Commission following an expedited process that began in late December 2020, according to records obtained by The Dispatch. The job opening for an assistant chief became active on the city’s website on June 7 and remained open through Friday.
According to records obtained by The Dispatch, Doug Sarff, the human resources director for the city Department of Public Safety, sent Potts an email at 2:46 p.m. on June 7 with her offer letter attached. Emails from Sarff were sent as early as 10:30 a.m. on June 7 to Mount Carmel Occupational Health to coordinate physical exams for both Potts and Bryant.
The physical exams are part of the standard police hiring procedure for the city, as well as psychological exams, background checks and a drug screening.
Potts’ application for the assistant chief position is timestamped in records obtained by The Dispatch as having been received at 3:03 p.m. June 7.
The assistant chief position began to be developed in the fall of 2020 by then Chief Thomas Quinlan. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said the position was something that came about as a
result of a national police chief search in 2019 and speaking with external candidates, who said they wanted to bring their own personnel with them to Columbus if hired.
The position creation process sped up after the shooting of 47-year-old Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man, in late December and was finalized by the commission after Quinlan stepped down at Ginther’s request.
At her introductory press conference, Bryant had said she was unsure if she would be hiring any assistant chiefs, and if so, how many.
On Tuesday, Bryant told WOSU that she will be hiring additional assistant chiefs but does not have anyone else in mind and will be conducting interviews.
Glenn Mcentyre, assistant public safety director, said Monday that Bryant will be able to determine the number of assistant chiefs she wants and who she wants to fill the positions. A draft organizational chart submitted by Quinlan to the city Civil Service Commission before his departure from the role of chief showed three assistant chiefs.
Since the hiring of Potts was announced, Kuebler has commented on Twitter about his displeasure with the lack of opportunity given to the applicants from within Columbus police.
Kuebler’s social media comments came under fire in 2020, with an investigation launched into his usage of Twitter by local law firm Bakerhostetler. That investigation, which was separate from an investigation being done by the firm into administrative misconduct by Columbus police officers during protests, was recommended to be dropped, along with several others, when the city instituted a new social media policy for public safety employees.
“This new policy should serve as a type of reset for Safety employees,” City Attorney Zach Klein wrote in a letter to Safety Director Ned Pettus on April 22.
However, Kuebler said this week that the investigation into his Twitter usage remains ongoing and he has yet to be asked to participate in an interview.
Mcentyre said Pettus “will review any current investigations or past discipline issued during 2020 and 2021 where the discipline is related to issues identified in the new social media policy, to determine whether discipline or pending investigations need to be dismissed or withdrawn.” He said no update is available on the status of the review of Kuebler’s investigation. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner