Former police Chief James McDaniel knows as little about why he was fired last week as the rest of Battle Ground.
In his first public comments following the termination, McDaniel said he was not given a reason as to why he was fired after leading the department for four years.
“I was not given any specific reason for my termination and know nothing other than what was given in the city manager’s press release,” McDaniel said in a written statement issued Wednesday. “… I am sure at some point in the future I will be provided the reasoning behind the decision, and like any other person, I will then make decisions on what options are available to me.”
City Manager Dennis Osborn fired McDaniel last Thursday, citing a desire to move the city in a new direction. Osborn said he is ready to implement new efficiencies within the department, which consumes 45 percent of the city’s general fund budget.
Since the decision, police officers, community members and some city council members have called for Osborn’s termination and McDaniel’s reinstatement. About 200 people attended Monday’s city council meeting and gave nearly two hours of testimony in support of McDaniel. At one point during the meeting, Osborn offered to release information about why he fired McDaniel, but the city council and city attorney deemed it inappropriate because public disclosure could open the city to litigation.
Near the end of the meeting, which lasted about four and a half hours, the city council voted unanimously to launch a performance audit of the city manager.
In Battle Ground and many other cities, the city manager has the discretion to hire and fire department heads, with the mayor and city council providing policy guidance.
McDaniel said he has to accept that the Battle Ground City Council does not have the legal authority to overturn the city manager’s decision. Based on comments made by city employees and community members at the council meeting, McDaniel said the audit of Osborn “seems a reasonable step on their part.”
In response to the firing, police officers and Battle Ground residents have taken to the streets wearing T-shirts supporting McDaniel and carrying signs calling for his reinstatement. McDaniel said the show of support was more than he or his family could have ever imagined.
“It has been a truly humbling experience, and we will never be able to express how much it has meant to us.”
McDaniel said he also hopes the police department never forgets the support it received from the community.
“It is a unique bond between a police department and a community, and I have never seen a similar event in my 31 years of law enforcement experience,” McDaniel said in written comments directed to the officers.
That support, he said, is why he and his wife have grown to love the city and plan to remain members of the Battle Ground community.
McDaniel, who worked for the Portland and Milwaukie, Ore. police departments before coming to Battle Ground, said the local officers were among the finest group of law enforcement professionals with whom he had ever worked.
“What you have been able to accomplish over the past four years, as individuals and as a department, has been noted not only by your community and elected officials but by law enforcement throughout southwest Washington,” McDaniel said.
Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman.com.
