City council decides not to reprimand Chief Shefelbine PDF Print

By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor

After 90 minutes of sometimes heated discussion, the Caledonia City County voted 4-0 to not proceed with registering a formal letter of reprimand against Police Chief Randy Shefelbine. The on-going issue between the city council and the police chief over creating a second-in-command position for the city’s police department and the letter of reprimand were broached during a special council meeting held Thursday, Jan. 3 at 5 p.m.

Shefelbine contended that according to the city’s job description for a police chief, he had every right to promote one of his officers to the position of sergeant. The majority of the city council and City Attorney Tim Murphy disagreed with Shefelbine’s interpretation of his job description, and insisted he could not create a new position on the police force without council approval.

Shefelbine presented a copy of the police chief’s job description and asked the council to read paragraph #7 of the “Essential Functions” section.

Paragraph #7 states: the police chief “undertakes or effectively recommends the full compliment of personnel actions including interviewing applicants, hiring, transfer, rewarding and promotion, training, assigning and prioritizing work, coaching and performance evaluation; and recommends actions such as discipline/suspension/discharge to the city council.”

Shefelbine maintained since paragraph #7 stated “undertakes....promotion” he was only following the city’s job description.

The council and Murphy countered that paragraph #7 said “undertakes or effectively recommends,” which indicates that he can only recommend those personnel actions to the city council for approval.

Letter of reprimand

According to the letter of reprimand: “Chief Shefelbine usurped authority of the council by creating a sergeant’s position in the police department and appointing officer James Stemper to that position. Discretionary authority to arrange organizational structure, selection, direction and number of personnel resides with the city council. Chief Shefelbine acknowledged the council’s authority in this matter when he attended the regular council meeting of Oct. 8, 2007, and requested the council to establish a sergeant’s position in the police department.

“Such behavior is a problem because a department head’s unlawful exercise of authority may undermine the city council in a number of ways, may cause substantial dissatisfaction among employees and may lead to formal proceedings against the city by individuals or labor associations...

“The Chief of Police is expected to manage the police department, carrying out the orders, plans and policies approved by the city council. The Chief of Police, as well as all other department heads, is to defer to the council on all matters of inherent managerial rights, including organizational structure, selection, direction, and number of personnel.

“The city council, Chief Shefelbine, and the police department have been placed in an embarrassing situation, as a consequence of the improper creation of the sergeant’s position. The Chief of Police was ordered by a unanimous vote of members present to rescind his unauthorized act and inform Officer Stemper that he was never, in fact, promoted to sergeant since the position did not exist. The Caledonia Police Association initiated a grievance process against the city and is hinting at discrimination charges. The incident was written up in the local newspaper, leaving a general impression that the city and its staff are in a state of confusion.

“Should this or similar behaviors be exhibited in the future, the Chief of Police shall be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including discharge.”

Shefelbine’s response

Shefelbine reiterated, that at no time, did he feel he was doing anything unlawful, out of line, or disrespectful to the city council.

“We’re down two full time officers and have been for some time. We’re doing the best we can. I felt my actions were in the best interest of the city and its residents,” Shefelbine said. “I don’t understand if you had a problem with my actions, which we discussed over a month ago on November 26, it has taken you this long to bring this letter of reprimand forward. I feel this is a retaliation against me.”

Shefelbine then said he felt he needed to be represented by legal counsel if this was an official reprimand. He asked the council who was responsible for paying for an attorney.

“I’m an employee of the city and you work for the city,” Shefelbine said to Murphy. “Shouldn’t you be representing me?”

Murphy replied that he works for the city and provides legal counsel to the city council. He added that a formal complaint had not been filed by the city, and that the council needed to decide if they wanted to go forward and make it official.

An appeal for compromise

“It appears to me there is a difference in the interpretation of the job description of the police chief,” Murphy said. “I get the feeling the council wants to work through this and I feel Chief Shefelbine does too. I don’t think the council wants to make an official reprimand. We need to try to find a way out of this for everyone.

“If you thought you were acting in the right, I believe you,” Murphy said to Shefelbine. “But I feel the way the job description is worded, you don’t have the authority to create a new position on the department. The council has the final say on this.”

Councilman Randi Vick said she would like to table any action until Councilman Paul Fisch could review the issue and be present when the council rendered a decision. Fisch, who was out of town for two weeks, was a member of the police committee. Vick made a motion to table any council action regarding the letter of reprimand. Her motion was seconded by Councilman Gary Klug.

It was pointed out that Councilman Fisch would be out of town for at least another week and that the special meeting would certainly be front page news in the local paper. Did the council really want to have local residents discussing this issue for several weeks before a decision could be made? Would this be fair to Chief Shefelbine?

Vick and Klug decided to rescind the motion and second.

Klug then made a motion to not proceed with the complaint. His motion was seconded by Councilman Bob Standish and unanimously approved.    

    

Comments (5)add
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written by Concerned , January 11, 2008
Way to go Chief Shefelbine for the job that you do. What the City needs to understand is that they hired you to do a job and your job is the Chief of Police. They need to let you run your department the way you see fit. This means promotions such as the creation and promotion of an Officer for a Seargent posision. The council needs to back off and listen to the facts that Chief Shefelbine has given to them instead of the Mayor having a personal vandetta. The Mayor is not a Police Officer and needs to let the department take actions in hiring, promoting, etc.

Also the other concern is the hiring of new Officers. The Mayor has a personal agenda for this as well. He is upset at the Chief for promoting Officer Stemper who is a very qualified Officer to have that posision so the Mayor is trying to get an unqualified individual as the new hire. Mayor Morey needs to get his nose out of the buisness of the Police Department before he gets the city sued!!!! It will happen if his actions continue. The Police Department has a very qualified individual working part time who they should promote to full time. This would save the city a tremendous amount of money for training a new Officer in seeing he has worked there for approximately 2 years. Then they should start the application process from scratch and hire the second Officer without the Mayor being involved. Caledonia needs these two positions filled. The crime rate is up and it is going to continue to rise if there is no coverage.

The citizents of Caledonia need to start to speak up, this is your tax money and you do have a say.
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written by to concerned , January 14, 2008
It seems to me that this might have been written by, oh maybe, the part time officer that has been there for two years. If he has been a part time officer for two years why has he not been hired full time anywhere? So I did a little checking on this part time officer and found that he was canned from Winona County! Just talk to one of their deputies and see what they have to say about him. I guess that is why he can't get hired anywhere. The city council does need to stay out of the Dept's busisness, after all that is why they hired a chief. But it sounds to me like you have a personal vendetta against the city for not hiring you!

By the way Concerned, how do you spell POSISION and VANDETTA? Maybe thats why you can't get hired!
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written by Thoughts , January 15, 2008
Knowing Chief Shefelbine and the Caledonia Police Officers personally, I would like to give my two cents on this topic. I feel the city council needs to let the chief and his officers do their jobs without interfering. City council members are not police officers and do not know what is best for the department. Yet many times in the past the city council has made decisions for the department in which they were ill equiped to make, having no training and little knowledge of law enforcemet.

Mayor Morey and the rest of the city council need to stop punishing the police department for trying to do their jobs and make the department and city a better place. The police department has lost several good officers recently due in large part to the way the city council treats the police department. I don't remember the last time I have heard of the city council giving the police department a pat on the back for a job well done; however they are all too quick to criticize the department when the city council disagrees with what has been done.

As for the hiring process they need two officers not one. Let the police department choose the best people for the job, not the mayor. Afterall, in law enforcement, officers must depend on each other to be there in possible life threatening situations.
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written by COMMENT ABOUT ME!!! , January 16, 2008
Whoever wrote the comment about me labeled "concerned"....Thank you. As for the comment that was labeled "to concerned".....I was not fired from Winona County, I RESIGNED!!!! So whoever you talked to does not know the whole story. I have all of the documents to back that up. I have worked in Caledonia for approximately 2 1/2 years part time and I have enjoyed working here. I love the people of this community and the Officer's that I work with on a daily basis. I would love to get on this department full time to continue my service to the City and Citizens of Caledonia.

Not only have I worked Caledonia as a Police Officer, but also the cities of La Crescent, Hokah and Houston. Why don't you call those departments and ask them how my work ethics are. Also, I continue to work for the Caledonia, Hokah, and La Crescent Police Departments and I have a very good working relationship with all the officers in Houston County. I am originally from Houston County and this is were I call home.

Here is some of my History: I was a Police Reserve Officer on the La Crescent, Houston and Caledonia Police Departments serving on La Crescent for five years and Caledonia and Houston for two years. I also dispatched for the Houston County Sheriff's Office as an on call dispatcher for approximately five years.

I did work for Winona County for 11 months, but I decided that was not were I wanted to be. I talked this decision over with my wife and yes, it is a leap of faith, but I was not happy there. I like the small town atmosphere better, because you get to know the citizens of the community on a one to one basis.

Thank You for taking the time to read this,

Officer Chad Heuser
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written by Actually thinking also;... , January 16, 2008
With all of this being talked about with the city council and the police department several interesting and very important points have been brought up. The good thing is that people are talking and the concerns amongst everyone should be heard, especially by the mayor and the city council since they were elected to help us and not hurt the citizens.

I would question to what I have read and heard so far as if the council as a whole has been represented because it comes across as the mayor this and the mayor that with others on the council stepping in at another place other then at the beginning. Some of us are curious to know if the mayor has decided everything without the concern to whether the rest of the council having been fully informed. If this is the case then it seems strange and rather unfair to the rest of the council to not be informed and therefore seemingly being misrepresented by the mayor. But then again I was also surprised to find out from people talking that this same attitude by the mayor has been used against not only the police department but also other city departments. If this is true then the question then being "when did the city of Caledonia turn into a one man council and is that not go into the category of dictatorship rather then democracy?"

Reading the different articles about this ongoing soap opera with the mayor always being upset while everyone else has seemingly put out some sort of effort to work together has been interesting read but when you talk to those who have been there during the actuality of all of this, the resounding thought is like what is the mayor's vendetta against the police department? Does he have one? Did he or someone on the council get a ticket or something? Hey, the rest of us have to pay ours if we make a mistake, you try not to do it again and you deal with it the best you can.

However,if that is not it then whatever it may be should be not used to harm the best interests of everyone else. Most of us get to go on in our everyday business because the reality we live in is helped to us by the officers doing there job because they know what they are doing. When talking to others you also find out about the drugs and brutalities going on all around us. We get to walk out the door because the officers deal with all of the crap that finds it's way into our communities and are willing to put the effort into keeping it at bay. Probably only so much they can do with the amount of manpower and funding given to them yet they put up with all of the risks to give the rest of us a chance walk out the door or even sit inside and try to have a life away from the 'big city kind of things' that seem to forever be trying to creep into the small communities.

I do not have to be in a political position to care about wanting those that have elected to do so to do what is in the best interest of all the citizens not just a select few.

As of yet I have not talked to anyone with a problem with having a second in command position. Actually everyone so far appreciates the thought of knowing there is one whenever a situation may call for it. So far no one or anywhere has anyone stated for a fact in really well written language that the police department does not have the authority to do so. Reading the job description it acknowledges the right of the police department to make such a decision. So far nothing proves they do not.

As far as the hiring process fairness should be given to all without special allowances for a select few. One would think that an officer hiring another officer knowing everything that they will have to have for abilities to accomplish there tasks at hand would make for a much more sound choice when protecting the citizens of this community rather then perhaps someone with an elected title and no law enforcement experience deciding on a personal choice rather then true judgement of the actual capability of someone to accomplish the job.
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