SEQUIM — There’s a reason all four finalists to become Sequim’s next police chief hail from the Pacific Northwest.
City Manager Bill Elliott said he was mindful throughout the selection process of not putting Sequim through a repeat of what might be called Ken Burge Syndrome.
Burge, who came to Sequim from Colorado and left for Tennessee in September after a tenure of just 23 months, didn’t seem to many observers to acclimate to life in the comparatively remote Pacific Northwest.
That won’t be the case for Burge’s successor.
City officials stuck closer to home in their search for the four candidates who emerged this week to become Sequim’s next top cop.
“That was definitely a consideration for some of the applicants we looked at,” City Manager Bill Elliott said Monday.
“When they come from farther away, even they don’t know whether or not they’re going to want to stay.”
Executive search firm
Elliott, working with search firm Waldron & Associates, said the following four candidates will come to Sequim for two days of gatherings and interviews Thursday and Friday:
* Edward Erlandson, a lieutenant in the Arlington Police Department.
Erlandson has worked his entire career in the Snohomish County city, having previously served as a DARE officer, a senior patrol officer and a sergeant.
* Steven Pyle, one of two deputy chiefs in the Boise, Idaho, Police Department.
He has spent his entire career in the Boise agency, having previously served as a sergeant, lieutenant, commander and captain.
He was trained at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.
* Nancy Reeder, a lieutenant in the Anchorage, Alaska, Police Department.
Her previous service with the agency includes work as a line officer, detective and sergeant.
* Robert Spinks, a trial court supervisor for the Oregon State Judicial Department.
His previous police experience includes stints as the director of public safety for Bellevue Community College and police chief in Milton-Freewater, Ore., at the same time Elliott was city manager there.
