Norristown municipal officials on an evening town hall introduced three finalists for the borough’s police chief position and invited residents to submit anonymous feedback via QR-code surveys and the Slido app.
The interviews were organized as part of a community-centered hiring process intended to “ensure that community voices are part of this process,” moderator Dr. Marina Barnett said. Municipal Administrator Leonard Lightner told the room the hiring process began in January with about 51 applicants and that the council and a hiring panel had narrowed the pool to the top three finalists in attendance.
The town hall format had each finalist answer the same set of questions in turn while attendees rated responses on a simple scale from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Dr. Barnett said the first step on the online form asked for name and whether the respondent was a Norristown resident plus street name and ZIP code “so that we understand which parts of the community we’re hearing from today.”
Candidates spoke about their backgrounds and answered standard questions on community trust, quality-of-life concerns, cultural tensions, officer accountability and public communications. The panel emphasized fairness among candidates: “I am going to ask each of our candidates the same question,” Dr. Barnett said.
Leonard Lightner opened the session and described the participatory format and the staffing timeline. He said the shortlist came from an initial pool of about 51 applicants and that a panel including council members, community members and two police chiefs from a Chiefs Association helped vet candidates.
No formal hiring decision was made at the town hall; the session collected community input to be considered by the borough’s hiring authority.
Residents and online viewers were repeatedly asked to submit their ratings and responses before the event closed with applause and closing remarks that “community voices will continue to shape this process,” Dr. Barnett said.
Looking forward, the municipal government will combine the community feedback with the panel’s evaluations before advancing to whatever next steps remain in the official hiring timeline.