FeedsAppointment validates our concerns
When Van Buren Township Supervisor Paul White talked about the appointment of Carl McClanahan as the permanent director of public safety, he said the 4-2 vote ‘validated the appointment’.
What he meant was, he got the person he wanted for the job-even though it was not necessarily the best person for the job.
Residents should be concerned about the way this unfolded-particularly those who have always complained about the ‘good old boys’ network in the township. Here we have someone that was essentially hand-picked for this important role and the process was twisted to ‘validate it.’
We’re still concerned that the criteria EMPCO, the consulting firm used to test the candidates. No one there would talk about the criteria they used-even to board members who requested the information.
We’re concerned that the large-scale search for a full-time director only yielded 37 candidates at a time when plenty of police departments are offering early retirements to high-ranking officers and therefore, creating a large candidate pool. The fact that two of the four finalists-who had more and broader experience than McClanahan-pulled out of consideration is also somewhat troubling. We wonder why they decided they did not want the job.
We’re also concerned that, most likely, three out of the seven board members voted against the appointment because of the way it had been done.
Most of all, we’re concerned that White doesn’t seem to care about any of that.
This doesn’t sound like the validation of any impartial process to us. It sounds like a continuation of the same thing that has gone on since White and his four-member voting block took office. To see that continue after everything that has transpired is the most disturbing trend of all.
