Town Picks New Police Chief, Won’t Say Who

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

December 17, 2013

Cape Charles Town Council met in closed session yesterday to interview candidates for Chief of Police. According to the agenda above, Council then returned to open session and appointed a new police chief.

Under Virginia law, votes by a public body must be taken in open session accessible to the public.

Town Clerk Libby Hume told the Wave that she did not attend the Council meeting last night, nor did Assistant Town Clerk Amanda Hurley. By law, minutes must be taken of every Council meeting. Hume said that a recording had been made of the open session of the meeting, but that it was in Town Manager Heather Arcos’ office. 

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Arcos took the day off, and her office was locked. No one had a key, Hume said. “The only way I could get the recording would be to break down the door,” she said. She promised to make the recording available as soon as Arcos returned to work.

Hume said that the Town planned to make a formal announcement of the new police chief on Thursday.

The Wave reached Town Manager Arcos Tuesday afternoon on her cell phone and asked who the new chief is, but she said she was in the checkout line at a store and would have to call back.

An update of the story will be filed when she calls back.

 

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10 Responses to “Town Picks New Police Chief, Won’t Say Who”

  1. Jeff Wallace on December 17th, 2013 5:49 pm

    To me, a past Lower Eastern Shore resident and now outside observer, the Town government seems at war with the citizens of Cape Charles.

  2. Susan Bauer on December 17th, 2013 8:26 pm

    So you want to suggest that town officials are secretive, clandestine and conspiratorial, yet you were able to call the Town Manager on her cell phone, on her day off, while she was justifiably running a personal errand, and she was actually courteous enough to answer her phone and discuss this matter with you. Good luck finding a public servant in any other town who would put up with this.

  3. Mary Finney on December 18th, 2013 8:36 am

    Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems to me that answering one’s cell phone, whether while running a personal errand or not, does NOT constitute service above and beyond the call of duty, as the above comment seems to suggest! According to the article, Ms. Arcos, did indeed “courteously” answer the call, but was NOT forthcoming in giving The Wave (and its readers) the information that was being sought. Speaking the name of the new chief would have taken exactly 2 seconds and I’m sure would not have interrupted the check-out process she was supposedly engaged in. And no return call yet, I presume? Sounds like SOP for Cape Charles town officials.

  4. Kearn Schemm on December 18th, 2013 8:49 am

    A Town Board that ignores state law and votes in secret does not deserve much respect. It really does seem like they are at war with the citizens of Cape Charles. I join Ms Bauer in thanking Arcos for answering her phone, and Ms Finney in stating that it would not have been much of an imposition to say the first and last name of the new chief over the phone at that time. The taxpayers are paying the bills, we should be given information quickly, without cost (maybe the name will be considered and charged for as a FOIA request?) and as a matter of course.

  5. Cape Charles Wave on December 18th, 2013 9:49 am
  6. Tom Kenny on December 18th, 2013 11:41 am

    Don’t most of you look like a horse’s rear. Announce a hiring without knowing whether the person has accepted.

  7. William Dize on December 18th, 2013 11:44 am

    The Wave asked who the new police chief is, not who was offered the position. Perhaps no one had accepted the job at that time.

  8. Susan Bauer on December 18th, 2013 12:06 pm

    Yes, let’s fault Ms. Arcos for trying to protect the privacy of a job candidate who simply wanted to weigh his options. Mr. Kenny and Mr. Dize, your comments will be disregarded in favor of opinions by those who spend their time looking under every rock for the next conspiracy theory. Friendly advice to Ms. Arcos: don’t answer your phone on your day off. No good will come of it.

  9. Mike Kuzma, Jr. on December 18th, 2013 2:32 pm

    Ms. Bauer,
    I am an Civil Servant in NJ dealing with matters regarding eminent domain. I give out my personal cell phone to each and every person I interact with, and have taken phone calls IN CAPE CHARLES ON THANKSGIVING DAY and answered any question put to me. Government serves the People, not the other way around. Well — free people think that way.

  10. Wayne Creed on December 18th, 2013 3:26 pm

    “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” ― Mark Twain.

    …Yeah, a little bit of this, and little bit of that all around this story…Oh Ms. Bauer, you seem to be working yourself up into an alarming case of the vapors over a rather innocuous bit of reporting. Most of this vexation seems derived from a feeling of loss associated with not being around for the Great Purges of 1934, but don’t you worry, history tends to be cyclical, so you may get your chance to take part the next time around. And stop fretting about those vulgarians that dare question the status quo—they will be put back in their boxes soon enough and the Town will be able to get back to important things like picking up sticks and catching butterflies.