MONROE, La. – It was a packed house at Monroe’s city council meeting Tuesday, with all eyes on the appointment of the next police chief.
“The ship can’t run its course without its captain. The Monroe Police Department has been without a captain for quite some time. The sailors need to do their job and they can’t do it without a captain,” MPD Officer Scotty Sadler said.
City council members confirmed the appointment of Vic Zordan 4-to-1, with councilwoman Juanita Woods as the only person to oppose.
She said she’s confident in Zordan’s ability to lead MPD, but she felt the process and Mayor Friday Ellis’ decision was rushed.
“Now I hope that this vote is not going to detour you from bringing your forces into the community that needs it the most, but my constitutes need to know that I’m hearing you very loud and clearly with that being said, no,” Woods said.
According to Chief Jimmy Bryant, the mayor was operating under a narrow window. The secondary test was given on the 8th of this month, scores were received on the 15th and a selection was made on the 16th. That’s 8 days the mayor had to make his decision.
“So we had about 8 days in order to accomplish a first round of interviews, a second round of interviews, and for the mayor to make his selection on who he felt best met what he was looking for in a police chief,” Bryant said.
Chief Zordan responded to people that may have doubts or concerns of his appointment.
“I went through an extensive process along with several other candidates and it feels like it’s been a lifetime for me when it’s probably only been a month or so since the process started. It was rushed in my aspect for having to study for the test but make no doubt about it, they did their due diligence. The mayor had the people in place to be able to vet the person that got this job,” Zordan said.
Now that he’s officially chief, Zordan says he has a number of issues he plans to tackle. Those include recruiting more officers, addressing crime, revamp officer training, and improve community policing.
“I want them to see behind the badge. I want them to connect a person with the badge. That’s the goal here, but I’m overall excited and ready to go to work,” Zordan said.
The city council also accepted a bid in the amount of $118,750 to repair the Office of Motor Vehicles after the building was damaged due to Hurricane Laura.
