It is unknown how long exactly it will take the Panel of Five to review applications, conduct interviews, and then send the final two picks to Mayor Michael Nicholson’s desk, but it is in the works and the Mayor won’t be told any of the candidate’s names until the end of the process.
Gardner Magazine recently published an article on the positive Community Outreach of the Gardner Police Department, much of it publicized by the Department since March of this year. See article.
Will Gardner MA PD Promote from Within? Applications Closed.
At least one member of the Gardner PD wants to be its next Chief of Police. Question is: Will the Panel of Five reviewing the applications end up choosing someone already on the Force as one of its two final picks?
Before the applications closed on Friday, July 8, 2022 at 4:30pm we asked Mayor Nicholson: “So moving on to the Gardner PD. There was a period of challenges earlier this year, when both the Chief and Deputy Chief were on paid Administrative Leave, and it appears the Gardner Police Department thrived, with a huge increase in the documentation of its community outreach efforts and a lot of positive accolades for the Gardner PD members. Does this mean it’s possible the new Chief will be a promotion from within?”
Nicholson: That’s always a possibility. To be honest with you Werner, I have removed myself from knowing who has applied for the position, just because I know who are current officers are, I’ve appointed some of them. But, I just want to make sure that there’s no appearance of a favoritism or anything like that. With that said, there’s always a chance that someone from inside could absolutely be promoted. Basically what happened is, the panel that’s going to be doing the preliminary review of the applicants, and I believe we have 8 or 9, I do get the numbers, I don’t get the names, we have 8 or 9 applicants so far, some are internal, some are external. Whoever the top two are from that panel, I’ll get them and do a final interview here and make the appointment based off of that final second interview. But there’s always a chance that someone from inside, it doesn’t have to be someone from the outside, but it could be. And I think that’s the chance we’ve given the City options to go off of rather than restrict one way or the other.”
Mayor Nicholson has previously stated that he intends to make a temporary 60 day appointment of the person chosen, with a full 3 year appointment to follow, requiring approval of the Gardner City Council.
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