Editor’s Note: This story by John Lippman first appeared in the Valley News on Feb. 9.
Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brad Vail, a 29-year veteran of the force who has been running the town’s police department on an interim basis for the past 12 months, could soon create a leadership vacuum with the top two positions on the force vacant.
“I’ve gotten an offer (to become) the Barre police chief,” Vail confirmed Wednesday, adding that he expects “to see a formal, written offer at the end of this week or beginning of next.”
News of the offer was first reported by The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, which said that Vail has been offered the job by Barre City Manager Steve Mackenzie, who briefed city councilors on the offer Tuesday night.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for 32 years and it’s always been a goal of mine, in the later years of my career, to become a police chief as a capstone to my career,” Vail, 52, told the Valley News on Wednesday.
Vail’s departure would be the second high-level vacancy at the Hartford Police Department, which has been without a permanent chief since Phil Kasten resigned a year ago to move to Maryland, where his family returned to care for an elderly parent. It would also come at a time when the department has six open positions — seven if Vail leaves — and has faced a challenge hiring.
The understaffed police department, along with potentially the two top positions needing to be filled, puts added pressure on Hartford City Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis, who arrived at her job the same month Kasten left.
Yarlott-Davis, who has final authority in hiring the police chief, said Wednesday that she could not discuss personnel issues.
But in January, Yarlott-Davis informed the Selectboard that the town has contracted with the International Association of Police Chiefs to identify potential candidates, conduct “stakeholder interviews,” and survey the community and city departments for their perspectives.
Furthermore, Yarlott-Davis said, she is putting together an “advisory group” that will comprise herself, the human resources director, a member of the Selectboard, a staff member of the police department, a town department head, and “three members of the public” — two of which she hopes will come from a social service agency and school district staff.
“I don’t want to make this decision without the input of community stakeholders,” Yarlott-Davis said.
She said the IAPC estimated the process from start to finish would take about four months.
Asked what factors she considered important in weighing candidates for the job of police chief, Yarlott-Davis said there are several in the mix.
“Hartford is a great place to work and a great place to live, but we’re in transition like any community,” she said, noting that the police chief should be “somebody who is a really top-notch communicator and who can see a lot of different people’s perspectives.”
At the same time, Yarlott-Davis said, that person needs to “also balance that with their legal requirements, what it means to raise your hand and swear to uphold the laws of Hartford and the state of Vermont.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Hartford police may face leadership vacuum as veteran considers top-cop job in Barre.