West Fargo’s Mayor Defends Police Chief Search Process, Despite Criticism from Newspaper Editor

Mayor Mattern says he's had enough

WEST FARGO, ND– Tensions are heating up between West Fargo city leaders and a local paper about the city’s hiring of a new police chief.

Mayor Rich Mattern is calling out the Forum over what he says is their attempt to create drama in order to sell papers.

“Were those open to the public?” asked KVRR’s Shiina LoSciuto, in regards to Mayor Mattern and others meeting with the police chief candidates last week.

“Yes,” said Mayor Mattern.

“So anybody could have gone?” LoSciuto asked.

“Sure,” said Mayor Mattern.

Mattern is not happy with an editorial The Forum ran on the process of selecting a new police chief.

Forum editor, Matthew Von Pinnon, said a chief can’t be selected after the secret doings of city officials.

Mayor Mattern said he’s had enough.

“Quite frankly, I’m tired of it, and I’m not going to let him get away with stuff like that anymore,” he said.

Von Pinnon said city officials are going out of their way to make the hiring process of the new West Fargo Police Chief secretive.

He wrote it was unclear if the final selection process would be open to the public.

“To say that we were not being transparent is totally wrong,” said Mattern.

Mayor Mattern said city commissioners agreed to make the process meetings open to the public and mentions that a representative from the Forum was there when the decision was made.

“KVRR was sitting in on the one-on-one that I was having with the candidate,” the mayor said. “Now, I don’t see that as being very secretive.”

One of the issues raised by Von Pinnon is there is no involvement by regular members of the community.

“The commissioner that was there and some of the others that are on the team live in West Fargo,” Mattern said. “The city commission is going to vote on the candidate that is recommended and they are elected by the people.”

Von Pinnon also wrote the applications and scoring of the 12 applicants were kept private.

“I think he was stretching the facts,” Mattern said.

He said the city still had to go through each application to remove personal information like phone and social security numbers.

Earlier this year, a mistake was made by city officials after the release of former Chief Mike Reitan’s records.

Some of the records contained personal information that should have been redacted before copies were made for the media.

Mayor Mattern said they wanted to be thorough, but the Forum may have thought they weren’t moving fast enough.

“If anybody wants to come to City Hall and look at the notes or whatever, that’s an open record,” he said.

Mattern said when serving 34,000 people, it’s common someone will disagree.

“I expect that, but I expect better from a…quote…journalist,” he said. “I was a reporter for many years and you got to have some common sense, which I think he has thrown out the window.”

KVRR contacted Von Pinnon about his article and the response from Mayor Mattern.

Von Pinnon declined an interview but, in an email, said he stands by his article.

The final recommendation for the candidate is expected to be presented to the city commission in the near future.

The mayor said officials can call a special meeting if they see fit.

You can read the editorial here, and Mattern’s response here.