Search for police chief starting over

Don Redfield will not be the Grand Coulee police chief after all, Mayor Mike Eylar confirmed yesterday.

Details were closely guarded at press time, but the city will “re-cast the net,” Eylar said, based on the city attorney’s counsel.

“For reasons I can’t go into, it was on advice from counsel that we not go in that direction,” Eylar said in a phone call yesterday. “I hate to pass the buck on this because the buck stops with me. But I don’t know what in particular I’m allowed to speak of, so I’m going to err on the side of caution.”

City attorney Julie Norton could not be reached by press time, and Don Redfield did not return emailed requests for comment.

In March, Eylar announced he would not be hiring any of the initial pool of candidates for Grand Coulee police chief, which included Redfield along with GCPD Officer Levi Johnson. Soon after, he offered the job to Redfield, which won approval from the city council March 26. At the time he said the offer was contingent on Redfield successfully completing city hiring processes and requirements.

This past Saturday, Grand Coulee city council held a special meeting that included a closed-door executive session to “Evaluate the Qualifications of an Applicant for Public Employment,” according to the agenda. Executive sessions, by law, are closed to the public and the press, and often deal with personnel issues, and with potential legal action or risks.

The Star received a tip that Redfield would not receive the job, from two individuals who were not part of that session but had knowledge of the process.

When asked if he was surprised by the turn of events, given his initial hesitation to hire Redfield, Eylar answered: “Yeah, I was very surprised. I think everybody was pretty surprised. But some things are in your control and some things are not.”

The mayor now needs to appoint an interim department supervisor. He confirmed he has been in ongoing communication about such a role with Levi Johnson, the Grand Coulee police officer who went on what he called an “open-ended, extended leave of absence” in March after being turned down for department chief that month.

Eylar cautioned that “to even insinuate that [Johnson] is going to take the role of interim chief would be doing a disservice possibly both to him and to the city. Suffice it to say that there is a need for an interim chief while we try to find the new chief. And there are talks ongoing.”

In the meantime, “members of the department are excited to move forward with some leadership as we try to regroup,” said Officer Matt Gilbert, GCPD’s public information officer. “We’re going through a tough time right now.”

Mayor Eylar is regrouping as well, preparing to restart the police chief hiring process that began in 2023, before he was elected. 

“We’re going to re-cast the net, and I’m hoping that we’ll get someone with some command staff or at least supervisory background that applies,” said Eylar, who retired from 26 years of law enforcement experience with Las Vegas Metro Police. “Because frankly, it has been told to me by pretty much all the officers, they’re looking for some leadership. And that is part of the criteria …  getting somebody in who actually knows how to lead.”

It’s more than just wanting team leadership and direction, Gilbert said.

“We need to have a formal leader,” he said. “It’s required for us to perform our functions.”

“There has to be somebody that approves our reports, for us to be able to write our tickets, run people’s criminal histories,” he added. “We have to have a supervisor to be able to approve a pursuit. There has to be someone accountable: an agency representative or leader. It’s required. It’s something that is needed.”

Gilbert said civil service laws prevent a mayor from filling that role.

Instead, Eylar is seeking outside help.

“The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is coming up this Thursday to meet with me and to meet with the officers,” Eylar said. “They’re going to try and get an idea of what, if anything, they’re able to assist with in order to alleviate some of the issues that we’re currently having.”

They’re not looking to take over, Eylar said.

“This is just them being a good neighbor, being willing to see if they can give us a hand in a time of need.”