By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

Problems between former Chief of Police Bryan Jeter and Mayor Bob Young have been hinted at and whispered about for the past year.

However, the lid had been kept on any simmering animosity between the two. That ended last week when Jeter's strongly worded exit interview was anonymously sent to The Courier-Herald Dec. 20.

Jeter submitted his resignation as chief of police Dec. 3 after accepting a position as lieutenant of patrols with the Puyallup Police Department.

It is the second position Jeter had interviewed for this year. In August, he considered, but turned down, a lieutenant position offered by the Lakewood Police Department.

The trouble between Jeter and the mayor surfaced when council members questioned the loss of four department heads in the last 12 months after it became apparent Jeter was leaving.

"I'm alarmed and very concerned about the direction this city is taking with personnel," Councilman Neil Johnson said. "These are things we need to take a hard look at."

The exit interview was written on a computer by Jeter and submitted to Administrative Services Coordinator Don Morrison Dec. 15. Morrison verified by phone, after listening to the answers to several questions, the document sent to the newspaper was apparently legitimate.

The interview was comprised of 19 questions. Some excerpts follow:

What did you like best/least about working for the City of Bonney Lake?

€ "Best - the employees and citizens of the community.

Least - As a department head, I have a lot of responsibility but do not feel that I had the authority to manage the police department. Like my fellow department heads, I have a lot of training and experience in my field but was not trusted to make decisions that affect my department. Purchasing decisions are often second guessed and changed by personnel with less experience than the department head. This is shortsighted and I believe that department heads know what their departments need."

Were you satisfied with the working relationship you had with your supervisor?

€ "No. There wasn't sufficient communication. I explained my frustration with getting an audience with the mayor and had to make decisions without his input. His lack of timely response to my inquires were extremely frustrating and affected the overall efficiency of the police department. Mayor Young prefers to communicate via e-mail or letter. His face-to-face meetings were vastly different than his written communication. I was often frustrated after meeting with the mayor and deciding on a course of action, only to have him change the course after consulting with the finance director."

Why are you leaving employment?

€ "A better opportunity elsewhere with a professional administration. That being said, I would not have been looking for an opportunity if the mayor had not given me an unsatisfactory rating on my most recent evaluation and suggested that I search for employment elsewhere if I do not improve. Since none of the areas of needed improvement had ever been mentioned to me, I felt it was the mayor's intention to attempt to fire me so I began testing elsewhere. The lack of professional administration also contributed to my leaving. I am giving up a more prestigious position in the community where I live for a position in a larger community with a chance for upward professional growth."

Do you believe you were treated fairly on your performance evaluations?

€ "Absolutely not. I rebutted both of my performances as there were no specifics given and relied on vague generalizations. When questioned about these, the mayor could not provide any further comment on why he rated me how he did. I feel that the finance director completed, or at least contributed greatly to, my evaluation and the mayor signed it. I do feel that there were areas that I needed to improve on but would not say that I was unsatisfactory when our department was performing at a high level. It is apparent to me that the mayor and finance director value loyalty more than professional administration or a department. A recent department evaluation was very favorable to the department and if I were not performing at a satisfactory level, this couldn't have occurred."

Do you have any other additional comments or suggestions?

€ "The City of Bonney Lake is a professional administrator away from being a very good city. We have a very good council and very dedicated employees for the city. The employees need to know that they are valued and comments made by the mayor every time a key employee leaves will not let that happen. It is very expensive to replace personnel even at the line level.

"I was extremely disappointed in the lack of support from the mayor except when it was to his political betterment. I felt that the mayor would distance himself from the police department when we ran into a problem and jump on the bandwagon when we were being praised.

"It is a shame that I am moving on. I planned on staying much longer as the chief but happiness is too important to me. I have no doubt that Bonney lake will hire a good chief. I just hope that he/she is treated fairly and given a chance to succeed."

When contacted by phone and informed the exit interview was sent to the paper, Jeter said he had no comment.

Young said exit interviews are meant to be confidential for employees on their way out.

"It is unfortunate this interview was sent out," Young said. "These are designed to be opportunities for people to express themselves. Exit interviews are not always my favorite activity."

Young noted he did not conduct a face-to-face interview with the chief because Jeter declined.

The mayor defended his evaluation of the chief as proper and to the point.

Some excerpts from the mayor's evaluation of Jeter follows:

€ "The chief seems to be undermining his credibility with me. I am concerned that the chief allowed Officer Sainati to make inappropriate remarks in the paper…about not being able to perform traffic duties…."

€ "In October 2003, the Guild issued a press release unfairly criticizing the mayor. In several instances, the information in this press release was based on proprietary information that was limited to management personnel and could only have come from Chief Jeter or his lieutenant. The information was skewed, and at no time did it appear that the chief attempted to set the record straight or support the administration. These are some of the examples of items that concern me and have negatively affected the relationship of the chief and mayor…"

€ "Chief Jeter has many positive qualities. He is smart and innovative and is technically and tactically a good police officer. However, as a chief, his overall performance is not satisfactory. My concern about his leadership was addressed in his last evaluation and still have not significantly improved…."

€ "He has not developed a good working and supportive relationship with his boss, the elected mayor and chief administrative officer of the city, and at times has been insubordinate. It is my hope that Chief Jeter can resolve these performance issues, become a supportive member of my team, and live up to his potential, or that he seek a position in another organization that will allow him to flourish and reach the potential to be an outstanding leader and manger that is within him."

The mayor gave Jeter the evaluation in March.

" It was very tough evaluation," Young said. "I thought he could do better, and if he did he would be a better chief. I was trying to help his career. I have worked with police for over 25 years. I have a brother who was a state patrolman. I could see areas where Bryan needed to improve. I took a real chance hiring him from within, he was young, but I'm glad I hired him. I think it helped him become a better officer. I was tough on him, that was my job but I never said I would fire him. I told him if he had an opportunity to go to a bigger department he would be wise to take it. I knew he was looking. I like the guy. He has a lot of potential."

Young also disputed the accusation that Finance Director John Weidenfeller wrote Jeter's evaluation.

"I wrote the evaluation," Young said. "John (Weidenfeller) was acting as my chief of staff until Don Morrison came on board. He gave me input, but that was my evaluation."

Buster McGehee took over as interim chief of police of the Bonney Lake Police Department Monday.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.