Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus was rated third by the search firm that evaluated chief candidates, which noted in an otherwise glowing assessment that he might be too quick to reach conclusions and could be more inclusive when making decisions.
McManus responded Friday night to that caution in the Oldani Group's evaluation by saying, "I can make quick decisions. That doesn't mean they're faulty."
Portions of the report, which has not been made public, were obtained by the Star Tribune.
Minneapolis Deputy Chief Lucy Gerold was tied with another candidate as the firm's top recommendations. She and Joseph Samuels, former chief in Oakland and Richmond, Calif., received "superior" ratings from the search firm. McManus, who was police chief in Dayton, Ohio, before coming to Minneapolis, was rated "superior minus."
The report is likely to resonate with those who question McManus' suspension of Gerold and two others shortly after he became Minneapolis' chief. On Feb. 26 he put Gerold on paid leave along with Capt. Mike Martin and Lt. Mike Carlson.
The suspension was effective pending an investigation by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The inquiry focuses on a memo written by Carlson to Gerold about missteps in the probe of the shooting of undercover officer Duy Ngo. McManus has said he had information with "criminal overtones" regarding the handling of the case.
"This decision wasn't a quick decision," he said Friday. "It was a troublesome decision."
McManus said he wasn't aware of any rankings of job candidates and hadn't seen the search firm's report.
In a written statement Friday, Gerold said, "Right now, I can't focus on what may have happened in the chief selection process. I just want to get back to my work as deputy chief."
Minneapolis paid the firm from Bellevue, Wash., $34,000 to conduct a national search for a chief to replace Robert Olson, whom Mayor R.T. Rybak declined to reappoint. Jerry Oldani, president of the group, was not available for comment late Friday.
Many compliments
Overall, the reports on McManus and Gerold were glowing, with only minor criticisms of each.
Of Gerold, the group wrote, "Obviously, she has not climbed the normal rank structure usually appreciated by line officers."
She started and spent most of her police career as a civilian, not a sworn officer. The Oldani Group, however, said she "has a complete understanding and appreciation for the role of police chief in a modern law enforcement agency."
The group described her style as candid and open, but said she can be impatient.
"She may need to show a greater level of tolerance with broader-based political issues, but her relationships with elected officials can only be classified as outstanding," the group said.
The group praised McManus' superior educational background and verbal skills.
"This extremely capable individual is not tentative about decisionmaking," the report said. "He is self-confident and fairly aggressive. ... He is trusted for his judgment and insight and seems politically aware."
Dispute in Dayton
Some search committee members expressed concern about something that wasn't in the report. It doesn't mention a claim before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed by Maj. Barbara Temple of the Dayton police force, who was a candidate for the Dayton chief's job that McManus got.
Temple's EEOC complaint, which was filed shortly after McManus arrived in Dayton and focused on events before to his tenure, claimed that she didn't receive pay equal to her male colleagues.
The complaint was forwarded to the U.S. Department of Justice, which in November declined to take action, according to Ned Dowd, who represented McManus and the city of Dayton when Temple subsequently sued McManus and the city.
That suit was dismissed but is being appealed.
Some on the search committee expressed concern about the events in Dayton, particularly in light of the Minneapolis controversy, which also involves a woman who competed against McManus for the chief's job. Minneapolis City Council Member Dan Niziolek, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee who sat in on the selection committee, meetings, said he was "very concerned" because he was not aware of the EEOC complaint or the suit. He has asked the city attorney's office to check on the status of both.
Dowd noted that Temple's pay allegations preceded McManus' tenure and said the complaint was filed against the city, not the chief. "Any search of the chief wouldn't have come up with the complaint, because it wasn't against him," Dowd said.
Still, Niziolek faulted not just Oldani but also Rybak for failing to disclose the information.
"He was clearly in charge, had the information and chose not to share it," Niziolek said. "My concern was I don't want to see something like this happen again."
Earlier this month, the Star Tribune reported that Rybak said he was aware of the EEOC complaint, but his spokeswoman, Laura Sether, disputed that report Saturday night. She said he knew about the lawsuit but not of the EEOC complaint.
She explained that the mayor did not go into that much detail with the chief because the suit had been dismissed.
Sgt. John Delmonico, head of the Minneapolis Police Federation, who was on the advisory committee, said he wasn't aware of Temple's complaint or the lawsuit during the search. He said he sees similarities between Temple's firing and Gerold's suspension. "Does it seem funny that his first major run-in is with a woman?" he asked.
Search committee member Linda Longino, whose 11-year-old daughter, Tyesha Edwards, was killed by a gang member's stray bullet in November 2002, said the omission doesn't denigrate McManus' qualifications "The man's good at what he does." But members should have been given all the information she said.
"To say that it's something that wouldn't have mattered to me would be lying," she said. "It's not that it would have change my opinion, but I would have wanted to be able to ask some questions. Especially when it involved a woman who said she was discriminated against."
McManus might have had good answers to questions committee members would have hurled his way, she said. And she knows he would have been limited with what he could say because of the pending litigation. "But it would have been good to get some of his scope on things," she said.
Longino recalled the heavy scrutiny that candidate Charles Moose endured because of controversy surrounding the book he wrote about the Washington, D.C., area serial sniper shootings, which took place while he was police chief of Montgomery County, Md.
"We knew about his past, so we were able to ask him all the questions we wanted to," Longino said. "It doesn't seem fair."
The BCA inquiry is complete, but the report isn't public yet. Bloomington city attorneys will review it next week and make a decision on whether to investigate further, file charges or decline to prosecute.
The writers are at raolson@startribune.com and hpadilla@startribune.com.
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