Process for Picking West Des Moines Police Chief Criticized

West Des Moines residents and city employees who took part in the interview process for the police chief's selection are in some cases criticizing the process as a foregone conclusion.

Shaun LaDue, formerly a police chief in Owatonna, MN, where West Des Moines City Manager Greg Sparks was the chief administrator, has accepted the job as West Des Moines' new police chief.

LaDue will begin his duties Sept. 17, said Jane Pauba Dodge, the city’s human resources manager. He will be paid $129,031 annually. The West Des Moines police chief serves at the pleasure of the city manager and does not require City Council approval.

LaDue is a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, including six years as Owatonna, MN, police chief. Sparks was city manager at Owatonna from November 1995 to June 2007, during which time LaDue was hired in that city. LaDue is currently the director of compliance investigations for the Government Programs Section of UnitedHealthcare in Minnesota.

Sparks told the Des Moines Register he did not reach out to LaDue about the West Des Moines opening and did not come into the interview process with a top candidate in mind.

LaDue’s strengths as a visionary leader, team builder, city ambassador and fiscal manager, as well as Sparks’ knowledge of his abilities from their past working relationship, led to his selection, Sparks told the Register.

Mayor Steve Gaer told Patch the Civil Service Commission, which selected LaDue and three other applicants as finalists from an initial pool of 64 candidates, “did some extra due diligence” once the prior association with Sparks was known.

Gaer said he advised Sparks to hire “whichever candidate is going to be in the best interests of the community of West Des Moines.”

Gaer was on a panel that included Sparks and Human Resources Director Jane Pauba-Dodge. The other three interview panels included community leaders and residents, police department employees, and department heads and command staff. 

The mayor acknowledged that LaDue wasn’t the top choice of each of the four interview candidates.

West Des Moines Detective Paul Castelline told the Register that Sparks’ selection of LaDue “surprised everybody.”

“When you ask for people’s input, you like to think they’re going to take it,” Castelline told the paper. “I don’t know if he took it or not.”

Jeana Grimes, an administrative assistant with the department, participated in the interviews and said other panelists are frustrated with the way the interviews were conducted.

“I think they are angry that there was a whole process to this, and the process pretty much seemed unnecessary because it wasn’t followed,” she told the Register.

The newspaper requested feedback or results from the interview panels, but Pauba Dodge said that information was destroyed immediately following the interviews “as a matter of routine.”

LaDue has a master's degree in public administration from Minnesota State University - Mankato and is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police and the Southern Police Institute - Administrative Officer's Course.

In a meet-and-greet session with the public in July, LaDue said he has the business acumen to manage the department efficiently, and the “energy and drive” for public service.