FORT WORTH, Texas – Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles calls the city’s current police chief hiring process into question.
His reaction surrounded newly revealed information that former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, one of three remaining finalists, applied for the position after the closing deadline.
What they’re saying:
“We cannot set a precedent that says we have a deadline, but if you’re my friend or if you know somebody within, or you wiggle your way in, then you can get in and just crush the deadline when everybody else adheres to the deadline,” said Nettles.
Following a barrage of public information requests about the candidates, including FOX 4’s Dionne Anglin’s own request submitted to city attorneys on June 27, city manager Jay Chapa is now addressing the issue.
City Manager on the hiring process
Chapa acknowledges that Garcia expressed interest through the search firm Mosaic Public Partners the week of June 9 despite the position closing on June 4.
A statement from Chapa’s office states:
“Because it was still early in the process and all the applications had not yet been screened, City Manager Jay Chapa allowed him to submit his application. This is not unusual for executive searches, as cities typically keep the door open to qualified candidates.”
Dig deeper:
Nettles questions why the search firm was even in communication with Chapa so early in their process of vetting candidates.
“You hire Mosaic to present you with finalists. From my understanding, the City of Fort Worth and city management team should not have had any dealings with the initial process,” he said.
Chapa’s office says Garcia’s resume was reviewed at the same time as the other applicants, and he was advanced with the initial nine candidates.
“You can extend a deadline, but the deadline was not extended. Basically, we just allowed an individual, one individual because ‘he was qualified’,” said Nettles.
Questions arise following finalist’s withdrawal
On Monday, the list of four police chief finalists was reduced to three after Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief, Emada Tingirides, withdrew from the running.
Nettles says around the same time, the questions regarding Garcia’s application timeline began to swirl.
“We did not know about this, until someone leaked it. We didn’t know the four candidates who made it to the finalists, until someone leaked it. There’s too much that’s happening in this hiring of the next Chief and when you do things like this, it makes you wonder if it’s already baked.”
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