Consultant gives Humboldt council input on police hiring

By PHIL MONSON

At their special meeting held on Aug. 22, the Humboldt City Council gained input on steps moving forward with their search for a new chief of police.

At the start of the meeting, the council approved one action item on a short agenda, a 24-hour temporary premise license for a downtown Humboldt business, Knotty Pine.

The council then went into closed session to discuss personnel issues as per Iowa Code Chapter 21.5. They were joined by city legal counsel online as well as in person by Jon Thomas of Workforce Solutions. After the 40-minute closed session, upon returning to open session, engaged in an in-depth question and answer session with Thomas, who also serves as chief of police for State Center.

Thomas, who resides in West Des Moines, has been in law enforcement for 27 years. He commutes 45 miles to State Center to serve the community of 1,500. Through his private company, he conducts 20-30 investigations each year in public safety employment.

Humboldt is seeking to hire a new police chief. Current chief Joel Sanders is set to retire in early November. In response to a question from Councilman Kirk Whittlesey, Thomas said “culture is really important.”

“Culture is really important. I like Humboldt. I don’t find it to be that bad of a drive from where I live. But changes are taking place in how we recruit officers,” Thomas said. “For example, when I went to State Center five years ago, the council said ‘we need to hire a second guy.’ I said ‘what are you going to pay him?’ They said, $40,000.’ I told them we shouldn’t even try hiring someone because it would be a disaster. We went a different direction and didn’t hire a second officer.”

Read the full story on the Humboldt City Council special meeting in this weeks issue of the Humboldt Independent.