Beaumont City Council, during a packed meeting of the elected body July 30, confirmed longtime Beaumont Police Department (BPD) Capt. Tim Ocnaschek as the next police chief with a unanimous vote. The affirmation follows the recommendation of City Manager Kenneth Williams, which was announced July 26.
This time, unlike the first attempt to install a police chief in advance of incumbent police chief Jimmy Singletary’s retirement July 31, Williams made his selection public in advance of the request for confirmation.
Ocnaschek checks all the boxes for what Williams was seeking in a police chief, he said: Ocnaschek is from the community he will be serving, has stellar record of police service, has proven community involvement throughout the city, and is as smart as any to ever apply for such an august position. According to Williams’ assessment of his favored candidate for police chief, Ocnaschek completed his undergraduate degrees at Lamar University and earned his Master of Public Administration from Midwestern State University, earning honors from his alma maters with scores near perfection.
With an extensive resume and more than 38 years in law enforcement, Ocnaschek is also revered as a United States Air Force veteran and the BPD Administrative Division commander; he was promoted to captain with BPD on March 17, 2016. The longtime law officer has served with BPD for 33 years, eight of those years as a member of the BPD Command, and nearly two decades of those most recent years as the city’s emergency management coordinator.
Amid uncertainty of the future police chief selection, especially after council rejected the city manager’s last police chief recommendation, a parade of community members attended the July 30 city council meeting to weigh-in on the perceived highs and lows of the police chief search. In the end, Ocnaschek’s appointment was seemingly received in unity by both the community and the city council.
“I want to express my profound gratitude to the community, coworkers, family and friends who have shown such overwhelming support. I pledge my dedication to making this community a safer place,” said Ocnaschek. “Under Chief Singletary’s leadership, this department has made great strides in improving relationships between the department and community, and I will continue to expand on that.”
Ocnaschek was not one of city manager Williams’ top picks initially; the sole local finalist to make the final five cut for the July 12 recommendation meeting was Assistant Police Chief Jason Plunkett. After the council majority expressed a desire for a local candidate following Williams’ initial police chief recommendation of Troy Price of Vancouver, Washington, the city manager was left to consider several local applicants and qualified individuals.
Despite the unanimous support in favor of Ocnaschek, Ward 3 Councilmember and longtime local attorney Audwin Samuel fervently argued that, in his opinion, the council violated the city charter by interfering in the hiring process of the police chief. Samuel said he wants an opinion from the Attorney General’s Office on the chief conformation’s legality. City Attorney Sharae Reed, respectfully disagreeing with a man she recalled as part of the State Bar of Texas since she was a small child, said that local government code states that the council has the ability to accept, reject or ask for additional consideration as it relates to the city manager’s proposal or appointment.
“The rejecting of the city manager’s choice was not a violation of the charter, it is within the council’s authority of Local Government Code 143,” said Reed, who added that state law trumps the charter and, even though the charter gives the city manager full hiring authority and dismissal and discipline of department heads, state code affirms council getting the final say on the police chief appointment.
As it relates to interference, Reed stated she was not aware that any person or councilmember had imparted a requirement of the city manager to hire a particular candidate, which would have been a violation of the charter. Reed said she would put the request to seek an attorney general’s opinion on the agenda for consideration during the Aug. 6 meeting if anyone would second Samuel’s assertion for inclusion.