Ludington Community Leaders Meet Prospective Police Chief

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Ludington and Scottville have had some similar personnel changes in the latter half of 2022.  One involves elected officials, with both cities losing their incumbent mayors this Tuesday:  Ludington's Steve Miller lost to former police chief Mark Barnett with a few votes to spare, Scottville's Marcy Spencer finishing fourth in an at-large race where only the top three finishers would be seated on the commission.  

The other involves their police chiefs, with Scottville losing theirs after a bit of a dust up, and Ludington losing theirs after he successfully applied for the public safety director position in Muskegon.  Scottville seems to be having a problem getting a replacement, as noted at their last meeting, with their city manager even considering the possibility of the city contracting with the county sheriff's office to provide coverage (a position deemed radical if not heretical back when Ed Hahn, former commissioner, floated it a few years back).  Even Ludington has had difficulties, with one of their two finalists dropping out and leaving only one.

The public was invited to meet that candidate, Ryan Myers (pictured below in his current uniform), who recently served as Big Rapids interim chief for 6 months when the prior chief took maternity leave, and who serves as a sergeant in the BRPD.  An array of community leaders and stockholders showed up at this meeting at city hall on Thursday November 10 at 5 PM in order to review the sole candidate and ask him questions.

Sergeant Myers was adorned in a business suit this afternoon, and upon this reporter's arrival, he was in a closed meeting with most of the officers of the LPD.  As a publicly advertised meet-and-greet affair, the turnout was decidedly light on members from the general public.  Of the approximately 20 people in attendance, most were city officials, mixed in with media and a couple of school board members.  The two people who didn't fall into either of those categories were prominent business owners; the general public was a no-show.

After the police conference dispersed, this reporter introduced himself to the candidate and asked him whether he had heard anything about me, and to discount such information.  He professed he hadn't, which maybe explains why he hasn't dropped out too.  After a five minute transition, seats were arranged in a circle, and inexplicably this reporter wound up closest to Sergeant Myers.  the candidate briefly introduced himself and offered himself up for questioning.  

One might think that somebody like me who has traditionally challenged authority and asked the tough questions to take this opportunity to do some grilling, but I deferred that option, choosing to observe the candidate and reserve a couple of questions that I would ask if they were left out of the conversation.  

Councilor John Terzano brought up a question that had Myers explain his philosophy on internal investigations where he noted that his department has body cams and would call in the state police to conduct investigations where the BRPD might have conflicts in.  COLDNews editor David Bossick asked the expected question on availability of information and got the expected answer that they would be as open as possible but couldn't share all data.  

Mayor-elect Mark Barnett shared that he thought it was very important to be part of the community back when he was chief and urged the candidate to do what he did and find a place in the city to bring his young family (Myers has 4 children between the ages of 4-12).  Myers indicated that he thought that was not a bad idea.  It was noted by others that the outgoing chief (Tim Kozal) never settled into Ludington, choosing to stay in Manistee before moving on to Muskegon.

Barnett would also notice that Myers throat was going dry during the scheduled one-hour event, so he got up from his position outside the circle, got a glass of water and relayed it to Mayor Steve Miller, who delivered it over.  Perhaps a good sign that the handoff of the mayor's spot will go smoothly at the end of the year.

Myers would handle about a dozen other questions and introductions without any shocking disclosures or gaffes.  One can't argue that this is the best candidate, but it also appears that he could be one that would do good at the job.  At least that's my first impression; we'll see if that changes after a few FOIA requests should he get the job.  According to City Manager Mitch Foster, that will not be decided at this Monday's meeting.

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