FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2022
Charlottesville Selects Police Chief Search Consultant
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The City of Charlottesville announces the selection of POLIHIRE, a Washington D.C. based executive recruitment firm to assist the Interim City Manager in identifying candidates for the position of Police Chief. POLIHIRE, was founded in 2005 by Kenyatta Uzell and has provided hundreds of searches for local government across the country. In Virginia, POLIHIRE led the search for the Police Chief of Fairfax County and Arlington County, as well as many other such positions across the state and the country.
Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers, who is responsible for the selection of the Police Chief by City Charter, even though Council has approval authority of the Manager’s selection, stated, “What was impressive about POLIHIRE was that they had led a number of local government searches across the State of Virginia and the country, and that a number of clients engaged them for multiple senior leader searches, a testament to their effectiveness as a search consultant.”
POLIHIRE will work with the City Manager and staff to design an effective and appropriate community engagement and outreach strategy to assure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input on the desired characteristics of the next Police Chief, the issues that residents feel the next Chief should have the experience to address, and the questions about the Police Chief that candidates should be asked.
POLHIRE will provide a link on the City’s website so that residents can access the Police Chief Search questionnaire and provide feedback confidentially. The results of the survey as well as input from several stakeholder focus groups will provide the information needed to develop a recruitment brochure that will be advertised nationally. Candidates will be screened and evaluated based on the criteria set forth in the recruitment brochure and POLIHIRE will present a group of semifinalists for review by the City Manager and executive staff, who will select two finalists to be presented for interview. All information about the finalists will be presented on the City website for review and comment by the public. The information presented will include cover letter, resume and written responses to questions selected from questions provided by stakeholders and residents.
City Council will interview the final candidate recommended by the City Manager and vote to approve the recommendation or vote it down.
POLIHIRE indicates that this process could take up to 120 days.
The cost of the contract is $35,000 plus an a la carte of services that the City could acquire for a fixed cost basis per additional service.
Questions about this press release should be directed to Interim City Manager Michael Rogers at rogersmc@charlottesville.gov .
Media Contact
David Dillehunt
Deputy Director of Communications and Public Engagement
City of Charlottesville
434-970-3114
dillehunt@charlottesville.gov
