Othello meets police chief candidates
Hire could be made by end of week
OTHELLO — The hardest interview yet for the three men aspiring to be the next chief of the Othello Police Department may have come Tuesday night by the residents of Othello themselves.
Interested Othello community members packed into the city council chambers at Othello City Hall to mingle with the three candidates during a community forum. The candidates fielded questions from the citizens on everything from gang and juvenile crime to why they would want to move to the Adams County town.
Othello Interim Police Chief Jake Evans said the community forum, as part of the interview process, is one that is becoming more common during interviews as part of a greater interview process.
"I think it's one of the more effective ways to do it," Evans said.
The three candidates, all with chief of police experience, were pared down from a field of 33 and were scheduled to conclude the interview process Wednesday.
Ken Almberg most recently retired after more than 10 years as chief of police in Seaside, Ore., and has been a veteran of law enforcement in Oregon and Illinois since 1971.
Rob DeGroot has spent 21 years in law enforcement and worked as undersheriff of the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office before moving to his current job at Microsoft.
Larry Schreckengast has been the chief of the Omak Police Department for the last five years, a department he started working at originally in 1980. He has also worked as a deputy and detective in the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office.
In mingling with the three candidates, community members were encouraged to fill out rating sheets that Othello City Administrator Ehman Sheldon said will be considered in the final selection as part of the process.
The community forum highlighted a two-day process for the three candidates; with final interviews with Evans, Sheldon and Mayor Pro-Tem Shannon McKay scheduled for Wednesday. The interview process also included psychological examinations and two different panel interviews; one panel interview with City of Othello department heads and the chief of Adams County Fire District No. 5 and the Adams County Sheriff, the other with representatives from the business community and Othello School District.
The search for a permanent police chief began after the resignation of Chief Ron Axtman in July. Axtman resigned during a period of unrest at the OPD, and after an independent consultant's report showed deep divides within the department. Evans has been contracted until Dec. 1 to oversee the department during the transition.
"The whole thing is to hold the fort down," Evans said of his position, "and also help them select the chief."
Evans praised city staff for putting together the complex interview schedule so quickly, after finalists were selected for the position last week.
"We've got our city staff to thank here," Evans said, "They did a great job of coordinating and moving these people where they needed to be."
Sheldon said the chief will be selected pending a background check, and said that candidate could start as chief as early as Dec. 1. Depending on how interviews go, Sheldon said a selection could come this week.