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Kent council approves change to civil service appointment process language
Summary
The Kent City Council approved language to allow the city manager limited input into police chief appointment assessments while keeping the fire chief promotion process internal; council agreed to add 10% interview weighting to the selection process for police chief candidates and to provide written language for review before final vote.
The Kent City Council discussed and approved language to change how finalists for the city's police and fire chief positions are evaluated, giving the city manager a limited role in the police selection process while keeping fire promotions internal.
Councilmembers said civil service recommended opening the police chief recruitment to external candidates rather than restricting it to internal applicants, and the council asked civil service to adopt an assessment-center model that includes a small interview weighting for the city manager. Councilmember Heidi asked why the city manager’s interview would be set at 10% rather than a larger share; council speakers said the assessment center run by outside evaluators remains the primary evaluation tool and that a small manager-weighted interview preserves independent assessment while allowing managerial input.
City staff said the proposed language would be prepared and distributed to council in writing before the council’s next meeting; councilmembers asked for the exact amendment text to review before the scheduled vote in two weeks. Council also discussed maintaining the current in-house promotion process for the fire department at the request of the fire chief. The council voted to approve the change in concept and will consider the formal ordinance language at the next meeting.
No formal ordinance citation was offered during the discussion; the council instructed staff to provide the draft language ahead of the next meeting so members could review the exact amendment.
