City of Manchester Safety Committee in a special-called meeting Monday (Oct. 3) voted to recommend the hiring of longtime lawman Bill Sipe as the city’s next police chief.
The recommendation still needs to go to the full board of Mayor and Aldermen for a vote. That is expected to happen at the next regularly-scheduled city board meeting, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at Manchester City Hall (200 W. Fort St.)
At Monday night’s safety committee, alderman Bob Bellamy made a motion to recommend Sipe but did not receive a second. Then alderman Ryan French made a motion to recommend current assistant chief Adam Floied – a motion that also did not receive a second. Alderman Joey Hobbs, who chairs the committee, then seconded Bellamy’s original motion and it passed.
Sipe is currently a major at the police department with decades of experience. Meanwhile, Floied, who also received a motion for recommendation that did not pass, is also a longtime member of the department. He has served as a captain and for the past 10 years as assistant chief.
The city has been looking to hire a new chief since Mark Yother announced his retirement in August.
MTAS scored Floied highest during interviews
During the hiring process, the City of Manchester used Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) to collect applications and conduct interviews.
MTAS used a panel of three assessors to conduct interviews of candidates. Those assessors were Red Bank Police Chief Dan Seymour, Algood Police Chief Dale Armour and retired McMinnville Police Chief Brian Denton.
During the interview process, scoring interviewees in multiple areas on a scale of 1-4, Floied earned the highest cumulative ranking with a score of 18.5, according to documents obtained by Thunder Radio News.
Candidate Cody Brandon scored second highest at 15.5, Terry Horner 13.5, Sipe 13 and James Ritz 13.
These structured interview scores were provided to Manchester aldermen for their use in decision making.
Scoring scale definitions provided by MTAS:
1 – Does not meet requirements
2 – Partially meets requirements
3 – Meets Requirements
4 – Exceeds Requirements.
