New Proposal Would Promote a Deputy to Police Chief

Darien’s new police chief might end up being a sworn police officer after all.

After a between residents and Darien City Council members at Monday night’s meeting, City Administrator Bryon Vana released a new proposal Thursday that would make one of the city’s deputy chiefs the new police chief. 

City council will discuss the proposal Monday during two special meetings. A public meeting is scheduled at , 1702 Plainfield Rd., at 6:30 p.m. Earlier in the evening, the city council will hold a closed discussion.

The , released last Friday, suggested the city eliminate the police chief position after current Chief Robert Pavelchik .

Any administrative duties the Darien police chief normally performs would have transferred to Vana. Deputy chiefs John Cooper and David Skala would have managed day-to-day police operations, including any issues that required law enforcement experience.

“My original goals behind this idea were to reduce costs, allow the administrator to handle some of the administrative duties of the police chief, and develop more direct and positive communication between the police officers and city administration,” wrote Vana in Thursday’s memo.

Under the new plan, which Vana said he developed this week in collaboration with Mayor Kathleen Weaver, the city administrator would still assume the administrative duties formerly assigned to the police chief. 

However, the actual role of police chief would go to one of the city’s deputy chiefs. The city has not indicated which deputy chief it might promote.

"That would be determined upon passage [of the ordinance]," Vana said during an interview Thursday.

The plan proposes three amendments to the city code.

First, it suggests that the mayor be given authority to appoint two deputy chiefs. Formerly, the police chief made that decision. Vana said that amendment is intended to cover future appointments.

From there, the proposal suggests amending the city code to allow Vana to promote the chief from one of the two deputy chiefs. The new chief would receive an "additional merit amount" as determined by the council during an annual evaluation by Vana.

Finally, a third amendment would revise the city administrator's job description to include administrative duties within the police department.

According to the memo:

“These changes accomplish the following: Reduces costs by eliminating one police administrative position; keeps the police chief title with a sworn police officer; and allows the administrator to take on additional responsibilities and oversight of the police department.”

Vana said in an interview his new administrative duties under this proposal are identical to the ones he would have performed under the original plan.

"The concept that the city was originally trying to get is still there," he said. "People who want the title of police chief to be a sworn officer would get that. At the end of this revision, it offers a number of win-wins."

Under this proposal, Vana said Thursday he would receive the same salary increase as under the original plan, which would bump his pay to $154,547 from $128,544. 

Vana wrote in the memo that similar themes emerged in the feedback that he and the elected members of the city council received after airing last week’s proposal.

He said residents questioned whether a civilian could fill the role of police chief. They also recognized that someone who is not a sworn officer could perform some administrative duties at a cost savings to the city, he wrote.

The meeting Monday will be for discussion purposes only, Vana said. The vote will likely take place at the June 6 meeting.

The Darien City Council was scheduled to vote on an ordinance last Monday that would have amended city code to allow for Vana’s assumption of the administrative responsibilities.

The council decided to postpone the vote after several aldermen reported confusion and uncertainty about the proposal among their constituents.

Updated Friday, May 20 to reflect salary information.