What’s happening with getting a new permanent Surfside police chief? Here’s what we know.
The search for the new permanent chief of police for the Town of Surfside remains open and ongoing, with the application portal set to close on Friday.
As of Monday, Communications Coordinator Tabitha Mull said they’ve received over three dozen applications since formally opening the position.
But town officials haven’t even begun looking through the applications or identifying who applied at this time, Town Clerk Sheri Medina said Tuesday.
Mull said that the Surfside Town Council will get an update on the hiring process on July 23. That’s nearly two weeks after applications are submitted and the opening closes.
Due to human resources confidentiality reasons, Mull said they couldn’t share more until after the public meeting.
Legal council for the South Carolina Press Association said state Freedom of Information Act laws require the any municipality to disclose who the second round applicants are after they make their first round cuts, and before they get down to the top three finalists.
Since the listing doesn’t expire until Friday, lawyers said it’s safe to assume that decision won’t be made this week.
This search process follows the resignation of Kenneth Hofmann, the former police chief, in April following a town council vote to investigate the department’s alleged retention issues.
Last month, Hofmann filed a defamation lawsuit naming the town, Medina and Councilman Harry Kohlmann as defendants.
Kohlmann was previously told he’d have to pay $400 for public records regarding why employees were leaving the town during a council meeting earlier this year.
“I was doing it for you guys,” he said during the meeting, referencing the public directly. “I’m not doing a witch hunt. I’m not doing a fishing expedition.”
Previous reporting indicates that he never paid for the records, instead choosing to pause his record gathering quest.
At the next meeting, Kohlmann presented a motion to investigate the alleged high turnover rates within the police department.
That inquiry was mentioned a week later in Hofmann’s April 2 resignation letter alongside a claim that the “malicious acts of a few have created rumors that are being used to attack me and my administration of the police department.”
His letter was accepted by the town council, and his official last day was May 3.
In a different statement released on April 19, town officials said Detective Ken Davis would step into the role of Interim Police Chief effective the same date as Hofmann’s last day.
Davis has worked in law enforcement for over three decades, most recently serving as the corporal detective with the department since last September. Outside of the Myrtle Beach area, he’s also worked as the Horry County deputy chief, city administrator in South Carolina and police chief in several places throughout South Carolina and Tennessee, the initial release said.
He holds multiple degrees, including a Bachelors from The Citadel, a Masters in Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in Public Safety from Capella University.
Davis is in charge of all “normal day-to-day operations” of the department until the Town Council selects and approves a permanent chief, according to the statement.
Davis did not respond to The Sun News’s request for comment on Tuesday.
