Echoing recommendations former Metro Councilman Bill Hollander made in a December 8 op-ed, the Courier Journal’s editorial board today urged the Greenberg administration to conduct a transparent and inclusive hiring process for the new police chief. 

Anticipating the upcoming search for a new chief, Hollander observed in early December:

“In 2020, Louisville’s search was managed by the Police Executive Research Forum. The public had no opportunity to hear from or question the finalists or even know who they were. Members of a committee empaneled to help select the Chief were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported last month that lawsuit testimony shows PERF was selected for a police chief search there to ‘bypass Tennessee's open records laws’ and keep taxpayers in the dark.”

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2022/12/08/move-louisvill…

Like Hollander in his December 8 op-ed, the Courier encourages Mayor Greenberg to “look to Cincinnati as a better example of how to manage the hiring process for Louisville's next police chief” in today’s editorial.

Hollander cited Cincinnati as a city that “embraced transparency” in its search for a new chief, observing:

“Cincinnati narrowed the list of candidates for its next police chief down to four people and turned to the public to weigh in on who they feel should serve in that role. As part of the final selection process, the city hosted two community forums to provide the public with an opportunity to interact with the candidates directly, in person, on the city’s television network and on Facebook Live.”

In addition to these suggestions, Hollander encouraged the Greenberg administration to open transition team meetings and records to the public. He cited the recent examples of open mayoral transition team meetings in Pensacola and open transition team policy records in Chicago.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2022/09/12/pensacola-mayor-elect-d-c-ree…;

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/TransitionReport/T…;

This recommendation went unheeded, and the result is Greenberg transition team meeting leaks like the leak that resulted in this week’s Courier report on alleged Fischer administration open records improprieties.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2023/01/16/louisville-transp…

Opportunities for opening the new administration to the disinfecting light of public scrutiny have already been lost. 

Let’s hope that Mayor Greenberg — having apparently elected to ignore one of Metro Council’s best and brightest members’ concrete proposals — heeds the Courier’s very similar recommendations. 

https://kyopengov.org/blog/departing-metro-council-member-offers-concre…