Tim Ryan tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
The Shawano Police Department lost both a lieutenant and its first-ever detective in one fell swoop Tuesday after the police and fire commission found itself forced to rescind an earlier appointment to that dual position.
The commission voted in May to appoint school liaison officer Jody Johnson to the newly created post of detective lieutenant, but it now appears commissioners had no power to do that.
“It was beyond the scope of our authority,” said commission president Tony Zielinski. “We can’t appoint a detective.”
State statutes give the commission the power to hire, fire, discipline and promote, but not to assign duties, which is supposed to be the purview of the police chief.
“Frankly, I should have caught that,” Zielinski said.
Zielinski noted that commissioners are all civilian volunteers, though there is some training involved.
“We do our best, with the community’s best interests in mind,” he said.
Zielinski said the commission mistakenly treated the original interviewing process as a promotion to detective lieutenant, even though some police department personnel who are already lieutenants interviewed for the job.
The commission came out of closed session Tuesday and voted to “undo what we did,” Zielinski said, and redo the process of interviewing solely for a vacant lieutenant’s position. It will then be up to the police chief to assign someone detective duties.
Zielinski said the commission’s actions were not a reflection on Johnson.
“Everyone has the highest regard for Jody,” he said.
Zielinski said Johnson would continue as school liaison officer.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said it was brought to the city’s attention after the fact that the original interviewing and appointment process was flawed.
“It was brought to our attention by police department staff,” he said.
Knapp said it took some time to evaluate the issue, talk about how to address it and seek advice from legal counsel.
“It took this long to identify and address the issue,” he said.
The commission appointed Johnson on May 19. It was originally expected she would start her new duties in July.
Police Chief Mark Kohl did not return a call seeking comment.