Prescott Police Commissioner Removed

The Prescott City Council addressed new business on Tuesday, May 29th, involving a request to reconsider the approval for one person named to a board or committee. Alderperson Dar Hintz called for a reconsideration of one such approval which then affected all boards and committees. The result was the need for a vote to recind the approval for all including a position on the planning commission, zoning board of appeals, industrial and economic committee and public library board as well as the position filled for several months by Ken McNiff on the Police Commission. Hintz requested that McNiff be removed from consideration as his current job, custodian for the Prescott Police Department, represented a direct conflict of interest in his serving on the commission. McNiff was recommended for appointment to the commission on September 25th, 2017, following the resignation of Curt Jacobson. As the Police station is manned at all hours, and McNiff performs his job in the presence of employees of that department,it was suggested that a direct conflict of interest was created by his position on the commission.
A vote was taken by the full council and each of the other appointments were again approved but McNiff was not. The action is effective immediately. The decision means that there is now an even number of volunteer commissioners, 4, including president Bill Pryor, Bill Fetzner, Cheri Johnson and Neil Riley. The commission is currently considering the applicants for Police Chief, deliberations which previously involved McNiff. I asked Mayor Hovel if his removal from the commission would alter the decisions he had participated in since being named to the commission. The Mayor did not belive that to be the case. He also noted that he was considering a candidate to fill the position, a Prescott resident with a law enforcement background. Confirmation of that appointment would then need to be made by the council. KDWA has sent our questions of how this may impact the progress made in selecting the next chief to Commission President Pryor.

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