Bainbridge Conversation

Bainbridge Police Chief Position Profile by

Have a decade of law enforcement experience and a bachelor’s degree? The City of Bainbridge Island may have a job for you.

The city is advertising nationwide for a new police chief, with the help of executive search firm Strategic Government Resources.  The job description, posted Monday, asks for applicants with 10 years of “progressively responsible” law enforcement experience, and five years in a senior command position. A bachelor’s degree is required but a master’s degree in administration or criminal justice is preferred. The new chief is required to live on Bainbridge.

SGR consultants were on the island earlier this month to gather input from residents and talk to city officials. They created a glossy brochure for the position, as they did for the city manager search last summer.

As with new City Manager Doug Schulze, the incoming police chief will fill a position with a turbulent history.

Recent controversies at the police department are hinted at in the position profile. Under the header of “Issues and Challenges,” the profile lists trust building between police and community as a top priority. The new chief will need to improve accountability within the department and promote public outreach, especially with schools, the profile says.

The ideal candidate, according to the profile, will need to “facilitate change, while respecting the island’s culture and responding to the needs of the community.”

The deadline for applicants is Feb. 22.

The city will host two police-related outreach programs this week. The first is a forum on the search for a new police chief, as we noted with a brief last week:

Bainbridge seeks input on new police chief

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Bainbridge Island is seeking input on its search for a new police chief.

The public can weigh in on the search at a forum from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 15 at City Hall. Comments also can be emailed to cityadmin@bainbridgewa.gov.

The city is searching for a replacement for former Chief Jon Fehlman, who resigned in September. Texas-based firm Strategic Government Resources was hired in December to lead the search for a new chief.

“It’s very important to me that SGR hear directly from island residents about the qualifications and characteristics desired in potential candidates,” City Manager Doug Schulze said. “The consultants will then use this input when developing the police chief position profile.”

SGR also led the city’s search for a new manager, which resulted in the hiring of Schulze last fall.

Fraud prevention workshop

Bainbridge Island Police Department has also organized a fraud prevention workshop for Friday. The program will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Waterfront Park Community Center (a nice opportunity to check out the recent renovation).

A panel of experts will discuss common internet scams, mail scams, and identity theft. The program will include information on how to prevent fraud and resources available to fraud victims.

“The purpose of the workshop is simply to educate islanders about the latest scams and to help them avoid being the victims of fraud,” Interim Public Safety Director Larry Dickerson said in an announcement. “While the workshop will be geared toward the island’s senior citizens, any interested members of the public are welcome to attend.”

The workshop is free and no advance registration is necessary.

Liveaboard plan saved again
Just when about half of Eagle Harbor’s liveaboards were about to give up on the city’s open water marina plan, a few last minute changes on vessel boarding and sewage disposal rules appear to have shifted sentiment back in favor of the plan. Read more here.

Business groups merge
Fewer dollars and staff have brought the Bainbridge chamber of commerce and downtown association together as one organization. Get the details here.

Inslee speaks
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee is set to speak in his own neighborhood tonight. He’ll be the guest at a Bainbridge Rotary dinner at the Wing Point Golf & Country Club. More info here.

City statement on Ostling shooting
If you haven’t seen it yet, head over here for the city’s statement on the police shooting of Douglas Ostling. The city offers condolences to the Ostling family, mentions the city is undertaking an internal review of the shooting, and refers readers to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office investigation and the county prosecutor’s letter responding to the Ostling family’s outrage over the shooting. The prosecutor’s letter follows the city letter.

City breaks state labor laws?
The fight between the city and its union workers is heating up. The union, after having filed a grievance over layoffs earlier this month, is now claiming that the city violated state labor laws.

Read more here about how the layoffs went down, and why the union thinks the city will have to give a lot of that $2 million it got from Washington State Ferries to pay laid-off workers.

County Commissioner Clarence?
In other news, islander Clarence Moriwaki is one of five candidates vying for a soon-to-be-open Kitsap County commission seat. He aims to replace Commissioner Steve Bauer, who is stepping down. Moriwaki has been a radio news reporter, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Lowry, a Tukwila City Council member and a regional office manager for U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee. Recently, he was Kitsap County’s public information officer and helped lead the development of the Japanese-American memorial on Bainbridge Island. He was a finalist for Bauer’s commissioner position when he was appointed in 2007.

Bailey Manor open for business
A reader asked me to check in on Bailey Manor, the adult care facility that raised a ruckus in the Commodore neighborhood back in October.

Well, despite opposition from neighbors, the business did open in December, and now has two live-in clients and four employees.

“There’s no more signs in the yards, no more theatrics, no more drama,” co-owner Marti Bailey said this morning. “We’re just trying to be good neighbors.”

She even got a wave recently from a neighbor who had been opposed to the facility.

Bainbridge’s public access station may be gone, but live video coverage of the city’s meetings will continue.

Less than a week after Bainbridge Island Television broadcast its last city meeting, the city had a web-streaming system up and running.

The first webcast from the city’s website was last night.

City information technology manager Steve Miller, who was manning a computer and joystick in the spot where BITV’s equipment used to be, said the new system works well. From his compact command center, Miller was able to manage two remote-control cameras mounted on tripods. The glitches and delays prevalent in BITV’s web streaming were not a problem for the city’s system because City Hall has a higher-capacity Internet connection.

The meeting video was archived on the city’s website shortly after the webcast. You can view it here. Click on “video.” Mac users may have to download Flip4Mac to view the video.

The city is finalizing a short-term agreement with Bremerton Kitsap Access Television to also air the meetings on cable, probably on Channel 12 or 22, which have gone black after BITV shut down on Monday.

Councilwoman Debbi Lester shot a short video introducing City Hall’s newly-planted edible garden. That’s Councilman Barry Peters doing the talking and Sound Food member Sallie Maron doing the planting.

A few days later, the planting began in earnest, with about a dozen volunteers planting corn, squash, tomatoes, chard and other crops that will be free for the taking. Read my story about it HERE.

And for more information on the guy who inspired all this, head over HERE and read one of his essays HERE.

During five visits to City Hall in one day, an elderly man – who was apparently frustrated about a development project he was working on – made unsettling comments about his guns and whether or not City Hall had police protection. When city staff asked him what he was talking about, the man replied: “You’ll see it in the Kitsap Sun.”

I’ve been scanning the headlines, but have yet to see our coverage of the angry man’s exploits. Stay tuned.

Also this week, Bainbridge police make good with a new “zero tolerance” policy on that hallowed Bainbridge tradition – Paint Night. The BIPD busted a crew of nighttime painters who were planning to decorate the high school water tower.

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The city’s public works is now operating with four fewer customer service hours each week.

Starting today, the department’s counter will close at noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The department had been open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

City Hall will remain after noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but engineering staff availability to the public will be limited to previously-arranged appointments with patrons who have permits in
process.

The new hours will match the planning department’s recently reduced counter hours.

Public works’ reduced customer service hours staff more uninterrupted time
to focus on improving the department’s efficiency and responsiveness, according to City Engineer Bob Earl.

Planned improvements include updating permit application forms, revising and improving design and construction standards, capital bid documents, bidding processes and capital cost estimating.

Bainbridge City Hall was closed at 11:30 a.m. today due to the snow. The municipal court is also closed.

City road crews and other essential services are still in operation.

“Maintenance crews are hard at work sanding and plowing roadways, and the police department has additional officers standing by in case they are needed as the day continues,” said City Administrator Mark Dombroski. “We encourage residents to stay off the roadways if at all possible, and to take extra safety precautions such as using chains and carrying an emergency kit with flares and blankets.”

For updated listings on road closures, visit the city’s website at www.ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us. County-wide road closures are posted here.

Additional information is available at the city’s emergency phone line, 842-7633.

City Council Chair Bill Knobloch sent in a guest column that outlines several concerns about the city’s proposed 2009-2010 budget. Read Knobloch’s thoughts below…

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A few weeks ago, the City Council voted for big cuts in city financial support for the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council. Then, last night, the council voted against those cuts, putting thousands of dollars back in the nonprofit’s pockets.

Rethinking past decisions tends to happen when death is discussed.

“Kill,” “death,” and “death-knell” were a few of the words arts advocates used to describe the consequences of the cuts.

The council did a bit of a flip-flop, but who wants to be known as the executioner of an organization that breathes a lot of art into the island’s life.

You might not be acquainted with BIAHC, but you’ve probably enjoyed the Celluloid Bainbridge Film Festival at the Lynwood Theatre, or sat in on one of the Great Decisions lectures at the library, or toured the gardens during Bainbridge In Bloom, or pondered the meaning of the spidery steel legs creeping from behind the wall outside City Hall. (One islander has postulated that it’s a statement about the lurking, predatory nature of municipalities toward the free market. Crawling from the web of bureaucracy, the spider (the city) means to strike the unwitting world of commerce (San Carlos restaurant, across the street) and paralyze it with the venom of taxation.*)

All of these community-fueled projects (including the alien eggs hatching to the east of the spider legs) are partially or wholly the doing of BIAHC.

For my coverage of the council’s move to put money back into the BIAHC budget, read on…

*(I made that up)

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The city of Bainbridge Island’s Department of Planning and Community Development plans to reduce customer service hours next year.

Aimed at giving planning staff more time to work on development permit applications, the reductions will cut eight hours per week of counter service, the city announced on Wednesday.

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