James Windell
During the public comments portion of the South Haven City Council meeting last Monday night Bishop Joe Wilkins, of Resurrection Life Ministries, raised questions about the search for a new chief of police.
“Other people who did not want to speak openly in this forum,” Bishop Wilkins said, “have asked me to express their concerns.”
People he has talked to, Bishop Wilkins said, were skeptical about the process being used to select the new chief. “They want the new chief,” Wilkins said, “to have the same level of concern and rapport for people of color. We want the new chief to be someone who has the support of people of color.”
The previous Chief of Police, Natalie Thompson, was widely respected in the community. She was appointed police chief in 2016, but had served as an officer in the South Haven Police Department for more than 20 years before that. She resigned effective September 30, 2024. Sgt. Partrick Carlotto will serve as interim chief until a replacement for Chief Thompson is found.
Kate Hoshier, South Haven City Manager, told the City Council that she expects to have a short list of candidates for the position – perhaps as early as this week. “Then,” Hosier said, “we will announce who will be on the interview board.” She added that the goal is to fill the position by the end of the year.
The city of South Haven is working with the Michigan Municipal League to select candidates and narrow the viable candidates down to a short list of these people. As part of the process there will be a meet and greet with various community stakeholders.
In an interview after the City Council meeting, Bishop Wilkins said that he and other residents he’s talked to want the process to be more transparent. “I along with several other faith leaders on the southside of Ward One were involved in the interviewing process before,” Wilkins said. “We and other stakeholders were involved in the process of selecting, finalizing and narrowing down the list of candidates,” he said referring to the selection of Natalie Thompson as chief in 2016. “But this time, it appears that community stakeholders, at least when it comes to faith-based leaders, have not been involved. They are just allowing a third party to do this.”
Wilkins went on to say that just relying on the Michigan Municipal League to do the narrowing down of candidates is not the best way of coming up with a short list of candidates for the position. The Michigan Municipal League “doesn’t know the history of this city. They don’t know what it took for us to get this point. They don’t know the work that Chief Thompson put in,” Wilkins explained.
City Manager Kate Hoshier said in an interview following the City Council meeting that when they hired Thompson in 2016, “There was a portion of that process where stakeholders from the community were invited to come and be a part of that process. I see that happening again this time.”
Hoshier went on to say that it is not uncommon for municipalities to use an executive firm or the Michigan Municipal League to search for city managers and other very impactful positions in their organization. “We are following best practices,” she said, “and we are using a very reputable agency and I’m very comfortable with that process.”
Wilkins also said that former Chief Thompson should be involved in the hiring process. “I have brought this up several times,” Wilkins said. “I think to not have her involved or least have her identify the different characteristics, talents or abilities that she had to bring to the job is a failure on our part. She set the standards and the goals. To not have her involved is a very poor decision.”
Wilkins indicated that he has not had any discussions with any city officials since the latest City Council meeting and his comments about residents’. “The process that I have been asking for during the last three or four months has been ignored,” Wilkins said. “They are narrowing the list of candidates down and we haven’t seen the first elven of them. So, you’re going to get somebody in here who is not used to dealing with a diverse community and then you’re going to have a problem. We don’t want to go back. We don’t want to lose what took Chief Thompson years to build.”
Hoshier acknowledged that Chief Thompson had built positive relationships “Not just with the African American community but with many stakeholders in the community.”
The City Manager added that she wants people to be cognizant that there are a lot of different stakeholders in the South Haven community and that it is a diverse area. “We need to be making sure that we are making relationships with a lot of people,” she said, “and we are absolutely looking for a candidate that is going to be able to appeal to many in our diverse community and make those relationships.”
