PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — I wanted to know why the city council is voting on a new police chief’s contract before the current chief, Richard Del Toro, finds out if has a new job in January.
I spoke to some of the council members who tell me the group was originally scheduled to vote on the contract to promote assistant chief Leo Niemczyk to chief on Wednesday, then swear him in.
But council member Anthony Bonna said the vote was pushed to Tuesday to give members more time to discuss the contract.
This way, he says the council can iron out any concerns before swearing in Niemczyk.
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I asked Bonna about the optics. Why ratify the contract of Del Toro’s successor before anyone knows if he is elected sheriff?
“I would have done the schedule differently myself. The sheriff doesn’t get sworn in until January and the election is tomorrow,” said Councilman Bonna. “And so there is plenty of time to space this out.”
Councilman Bonna says he expects the contract for Niemczyk to be approved, and that Del Toro will win the sheriff’s race.
If that happens, Bonna will propose upgrading Del Toro’s current title from acting chief to chief, to honor his 26 years of service to the department.
Del Toro was named acting chief instead of chief because he was already a candidate for sheriff when he was promoted.
