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NEW BEDFORD — City councilors finally got the moment they wanted and sued over: a meeting to question Police Chief Jason Thody and vote on whether to recommend his confirmation following his June appointment by the mayor.
Members of the Appointments and Briefing Committee on Tuesday night voted to refer his confirmation favorably to the full council in a 7-1 vote. Councilor-at-large and committee chair Naomi Carney was the only “no” vote. She had previously said she would not support his confirmation because she believes the chief should be an internal hire.
Thody, the department’s first external hire since the 1990s, came prepared with a detailed five-page, one-year plan for the police department, which he shared with councilors ahead of the meeting.
Altogether, the eight councilors (three were absent) spent about an hour and forty minutes asking Thody questions about morale; staffing and training; his views on transparency and communications with the public; his time as police chief in Hartford, Connecticut; his relationship with the police union; and his perspectives on different scenarios or proposals, like the use of drones.
Some councilors pressed Thody on his relationship with Mayor Jon Mitchell, asking how much liberty he has to act independently of the mayor.
“You said there’s a working relationship with the administration. But who is running this department? You,” said Councilor Brian Gomes, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. “Are you going to be a chief that runs the department … or would you do what you’re told by the boss knowing that it’s not the right thing to do?”
Some of this regarded appointments of higher level positions, like deputy chief, for which Thody said it’s a “team approach” with the mayor. The department is about to publish a job posting for the long-vacant deputy chief position, and is accepting both internal and external candidates.
“In Hartford, I made all those decisions,” Thody said. “I fired, I hired, I promoted, I demoted. Here, that ultimate authority rests with the mayor.” (In New Bedford, the form of government is classified as “strong mayor.”)
“At the end of the day, the way the city government works is that the mayor is in charge. The mayor selected me because a lot of our visions aligned,” Thody said to Gomes. “If I ever found myself so misaligned with philosophy, whether it be city government as a whole or the mayor, I’m always willing to walk away from a position before I will do something that I think is wrong.”
Thody led about 475 officers in Connecticut — more than double the size of New Bedford’s police force. Though Hartford and New Bedford are comparable in size (both by population and square miles), Thody said the call volume is smaller and pace slower on the South Coast.
Councilor Shawn Oliver, who sat on the screening committee that elevated three finalists to the mayor’s office, asked Thody about his vision for transparency and increasing communication with the public — and not just for good news.
“Accolades are great and I understand the mentality of you don’t want to put all of your dirty laundry out there, but folks need to hear that too,” he said.
“We were transparent with just about everything, whether it was good news, whether it was bad news,” Thody said of his time in Hartford. He said Massachusetts laws and rules differ with regards to what information is shared, and that he will “lean on” the solicitor’s office and mayor to figure out how information will go out.
“I am a big advocate of being out front, not waiting for “Hey, we got a media inquiry, let’s put this out,’” he continued.
Given the favorable vote on Tuesday, Thody will be confirmed and sworn in during the Jan. 8 full council meeting. He requires the support of the majority, so six of the 11 councilors, to be confirmed. Councilors Joseph Lopes, Maria Giesta and Linda Morad were not present, though Morad is retiring and Giesta lost the Ward 2 seat in the November election.
Councilor-elect James Roy, who will be voting on Thody next month, attended the meeting. The other councilor-elect, Scott Pemberton, Giesta’s successor come the first week of January, was not present.
In September, the council sued the mayor, alleging he was violating city code in not putting the police chief before the council for approval. Mitchell maintained he was well within the law, and did not need the council’s OK. By November, the mayor relented and said he would submit Thody to the council for confirmation on the condition that the councilors withdraw their lawsuit.
Councilors previously interviewed by The Light said the fight was more about enforcing their power as councilors, not a mark against Thody or his professional abilities.
For some councilors, Tuesday’s questioning came after they’d already had a chance to talk with Thody, who has now been serving as chief for five months. It also gave them the platform to, again, express their displeasure with Mitchell.
“We had a homegrown person here within our ranks, somebody I felt was very capable of being chief of police,” said Carney of one of the top three finalists, Capt. Nathaniel Rodriguez. “This has got nothing against this new chief of police because I think he will be appointed and he will be our next chief and I think he’s gonna do a great job. My reservations are … with the administration.”
After the vote, Thody was invited to bring his family and a camera to the January meeting for his swearing in.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Councilor Carney has a point that hiring within has merit, the decision has been made, and I wish the new chief the best of luck and hopefully he can make New Bedford a safer place to live.
Police Chief Jason Thody can start cleaning up the NBPD by reporting to the public the hidden facts around the arrest of IGOR LIMA and his possession of a handgun registered to an active member of the NBFD…out of site…out of mind.