Colfax officials and the city’s recently fired police chief separately released records this month clarifying the dispute over allegations of improper hiring practices at the police department in 2016, including arguments city officials previously failed to conduct the same background checks they fired the chief over.
Email records also indicate the mayor previously sought to remove Police Chief Rick McNannay last May — several months before his official termination — amid multiple administrative conflicts.
Attorneys for McNannay recently released a 12-page Feb. 6 appeal letter challenging the city’s investigation and alleging the mayor ultimately terminated the chief over contested backpay as well as complaints regarding insufficient funding for officers and equipment.
“(I)t is clear that the City’s reliance on inadvertent hiring misunderstandings from nearly three years ago, … is mere pretext for retaliation based on Chief McNannay’s demands for compensation owed to him,” the letter states. “Alternatively, … it appears that he was discharged for political reasons due to his efforts to address the threat posed by an understaffed, overworked police department with inadequate resources.”
Colfax Mayor Todd Vanek fired McNannay on Jan. 17 citing alleged hiring violations from 2016. McNannay contends he checked his hiring practices with the state. He has appealed to the city’s Civil Service Commission and a hearing is set for July 29.
City officials also released a nine-page Dec. 19 investigation report from Clear Risk Solutions that outlines allegations McNannay filed false certification forms to the state Criminal Justice Training Commission when hiring police officers from neighboring departments to cover part-time shifts in Colfax. The city also provided a Nov. 12 initial findings report upon request from Whitman County Watch.
Clear Risk investigator John Young concluded McNannay should have known about legal requirements to conduct background checks, psychological evaluations and polygraph tests on all new hires — even those who had already undergone those checks to work for nearby departments.
“Ultimately, Chief McNannay had a duty to ensure that the requirements were complied with, and he failed to do that,” Young wrote.
The Clear Risk report also alleges McNannay acted dishonestly by signing Notice of Hire forms, under penalty of perjury, verifying his department’s compliance with all mandated background checks. The report includes copies of the certification forms for four part-time officers hired in 2016.
“I also find it troubling that Chief McNannay told me he could not recall whether he had conducted background checks, including polygraphs and psych evaluations on his officers,” Young wrote, “particularly when he had a lengthy exchange with (the state certification manager) about this.”
McNannay and his attorneys maintain the chief confirmed all of his hires with the state commission and filed the certification forms in good faith. They cite email exchanges in which McNannay clarifies the requirements and asks the state certification manager how to best rectify the issue with his part-time hires.
“(The certification manager) indicated that nothing could be done regarding the earlier hires … due to the length of time that had already passed since their hiring,” the letter states. “As such, (she) recommended that Chief McNannay just submit the old notice forms … and ensure the City complied with the statute moving forward.”
Records show McNannay alerted other city officials at the time. Since then all part-time hires have completed the required background checks and polygraph testing.
Prior to the 2016 hires, McNannay based his hiring practices on his understanding of the city’s past procedures, the appeal letter argues. A statement from a former Colfax Civil Service examiner/secretary indicates she did not believe the city had ever performed such background checks on already commissioned officers on part-time contracts.
McNannay’s attorneys argue city policy places ultimate responsibility for employee certifications on the city administrator. The letter also alleges Colfax city officials failed to conduct similar background checks and testing on McNannay when they hired him as police chief in 2012. He later completed the testing when the state commission informed him of the discrepancy.
“Neither the City Administrator and/or the Mayor … were subjected to any type of reprimand and/or discipline as a result of their oversight,” the letter states.
Much of the appeal letter questions the manner and motives behind the investigation into McNannay’s conduct. The letter accuses Vanek of ambushing the police chief with the accusations and delivering his order of administrative leave in a “callous and malicious” fashion.
The letter also seeks to establish several previous personnel conflicts as the true basis for seeking McNannay’s termination — including the chief taking department funding concerns public in February of 2018.
“His efforts to apprise Mayor Vanek of issues relating to the Department’s limited budget and resources were inevitably met with resistance, if not outright hostility,” the letter states.
In the mayor’s draft removal letter from May 2018, Vanek sought to place McNannay on immediate administrative leave pending a permanent “management solution.” Vanek listed staffing turnover and missed funding reimbursements as evidence the chief had neglected his responsibilities.
“The Colfax Police Department is in serious need of help,” Vanek wrote last May, “and so I am stepping in before it gets any worse.”
McNannay had recently confronted the mayor via email over requesting assistance for neighboring agencies to cover shifts. The chief again expressed concerns about struggling to balance administrative duties while staffing patrol shifts in early October, predicting the department’s issues would likely intensify.
“I am forbidden to use the words resources or time but they are the cause of many of our problems within the department,” McNannay wrote in an Oct. 5 email to the mayor. “And telling me to be ‘creative’ is not helpful. … You expect me to constantly do more with less.”
McNannay was placed on paid administrative leave 11 days later.
Vanek and other city officials have avoided additional comment, citing the ongoing civil service appeal. The city cannot hire a new police chief until McNannay’s termination appeal is decided.
The city’s Civil Service Commission held a preliminary hearing March 5 to establish deadlines for sharing information and interviewing witnesses. Parties expected a four-day hearing, starting July 29.
Read related coverage from the Whitman County Gazette here.