Bonney Lake officers Kurt Alfano and James Keller were both sworn in to the office of assistant chief of police Feb. 26.
The swearing in ceremony, presided over by municipal Judge Ron Heslop, was held at the beginning of the city’s regular City Council meeting and attended by police both in and outside Bonney Lake Police Department, including Chief Brad Moericke of Sumner. The swearing in was immediately followed by a brief adjournment for congratulations and refreshments.
Alfano’s and Keller’s promotion — which occurred Feb. 16, but was made official at the meeting — marks the first time the city police department has had a permanent assistant chief since Dana Powers was promoted from assistant to interim chief in September 2011. However, Alfano had been made acting assistant during that period.
“All I can say is thank you so much to the city, the council and our staff for seeing the need for these positions,” Powers said shortly after the ceremony. “With the direction our department is going to go, we have some great assistant chiefs to lead us into the future … and a possible future police chief. I extremely appreciate the support from the council, the staff again, the families and our department.”
The decision to appoint two assistant chiefs, rather than one, was influenced by the suggestions of a 2005 study of the department, Powers said in an interview Thursday. The study found that communication from command to sergeants to officers would likely be improved with two lieutenants under the chief at the command level.
“Our goal was always to move in that direction,” Powers said, but circumstances of command turnover and budget prevented the issue from being seriously considered until recently. But once Powers’ interim chief position was made permanent in late 2012, and once the 2012 fiscal year ended, the restructuring could begin in earnest.
“There was improvement over the last year, and this became something we could implement,” Powers said. “We had the police department, the mayor, city council, the city administrator and human resources working together to make (the dual assistant positions) happen.
“The workload on the command side of the department is traditionally a chief and lieutenant. And in years when we had a smaller 12-man department, that worked out well. Now, the second-in-command position changed from captain in, maybe, 1995 to lieutenant. Then lieutenant changed to assistant chief, though the duties were the same. And now we have a department of 30 — actually, 29 at the moment — that outgrew our old system.”
Once the dual-assistant system was worked out with human resources, the department solicited its sergeants for letters of interest. Five submitted letters, and their resumes and accomplishments were reviewed.
“The chemistry of everybody involved was an important consideration,” Powers said. “That’s the hard part of being chief: I had five really good candidates to work from, chemistry and communication-wise, who worked really well together. Not just with us, and with sergeants and officers, but with the city so we can be transparent to the public. That’s key: we’re not just this silo of a police department, we’re part of the city of Bonney Lake. Sergeants Alfano and Keller were chosen for their communication, chemistry and work ethic.
“That’s not to diminish what the other candidates brought to the table. The hardest part of being chief is making those decisions with personnel, and making sure those who weren’t picked don’t think it says something about them. We need to have the right people in the right places and make sure everybody else has the same goal: we are the guardians of Bonney Lake.”
Powers was excited for the future of the department under the new command structure, she said.
Alfano and Keller’s promotion has also resulted in the promotions of Detective Ryan Boyle and Officer Rob Hoag to the vacant sergeant positions. They will be sworn in at the next possible city council meeting, Powers said.
