CLEO's in Ca looking for change,,,

[me109g4]

Just thought i would post this and maybe save someone from some grief. First some background,, I live in Rindge, a small town in southern NH, population is about 5K and home of Franklin Pierce University, which is the source of a large number of the calls for service.. we are currently searching for a new CLEO,, again! This town has gone through at least five in the last 20 yrs,,most left due to getting jerked around by the towns administration. we have a bunch of good people in the Dept. but the town is rife with small town politics and the town administrator will NEVER let anyone run thier Dept. she will micro manage you till you cant use a tissue without a request form. Last chief had to go to the State to force the town to pay for his OT and Details pay as the town believed he did not have it coming, he moved on to another Dept. within a yr.
Currently the Dept. is being run (and pretty well) by the acting chief who was the imediate subordinate to the departed chief, he actually wants the job but being the protoge of the last chief I have little hope the town allow him to get the job. I have it on good authority that some chiefs from Ca. have applied for this position,, if by some chance you are one of them and reading this i would urge you to do your homework and reach out to the past chief for a conversation. I hate to possibly turn away good people for this job, but i would feel a whole lot worse for someone to make a major move here to be disapointed, I like this town and would love to see it do better but the administration here just plain sucks!! Of course, all said here is just my opinion but its a widely held one here in town. Regards to all.

[Cowboy T]

Sounds like the "change" really needs to happen at the ballot box next go-around. Shame that good people are getting run out by such petty people in positions of authoritah that they won't let the Chief do his job.

Good of you to do this heads-up. California-to-New Hampshire is a serious move.

[me109g4]

Only three selectmen are elected positions,, town admin is a hired position. We recently tried to remove part of the Administration by ballot,, and won, The selectman over ruled the popular vote and refused to acknowledge the will of the town residents. We got one of the selectman at the next election,, 2 more arent up for re election yet.

[Notorious]

Doesn't sound like an improvement over most CA situations.

[TrailerparkTrash]

To the OP.... seems like your department is seeking ANY qualified "Registered Democrat" Chief. Shouldn't be too hard to recruit one from Kalivornia.

[me109g4]

what the administration wants is someone they can bully and control. Our last chief wouldnt stand for the political BS and was frequently at odds with our town politbureau, hence his departure.

[choprzrul]

Council should set policy and paid staff should be responsible for implementing policy.

Sounds like a very dysfunctional situation.

.

[meaty-btz]

Small town politics, petty tyrants at their worst. I do you you guys can get the last two Select on the next go round.

[Notorious]

Council should set policy and paid staff should be responsible for implementing policy.

The governing body should govern, the managing personnel should manage. It's not a hard concept, but lots of power hungry politicians forget.