Libby City Council approves separation agreement with police chief

Libby City Council voted unanimously last week to approve a separation agreement with Police Chief Scott Kessel.

With Kessel on sick leave for more than two months and former officer Joshua Brabo recently leaving the department, Sgt. Ron Buckner is now the lone officer on the force. Fewer than five months ago, the department boasted a roster of six.

Kessel came under scrutiny after three officers, Sgt. Chris Pape and officers Ian Smith and Cody DeWitt, quit the force on Nov. 21.

The trio then penned a letter that was published in The Western News on Dec. 27. It detailed a few of their issues with Kessel. Those included concerns with his leadership, forced overtime, not assisting with patrol responsibilities and giving incorrect direction regarding policy and procedure.

The news of the officers' departure was not announced by city officials until after a social media post revealed the information on Dec. 3.

According to the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Bureau, it has received complaints on Kessel and forwarded them to the city for their review.

A request to POST for more information prompted the following response from paralegal/investigator Katrina Bolger: "It appears that the complaints may contain confidential criminal justice information. We will review them for redactions."

As for the agreement with Kessel, it called for the city to pay him $15,101.97 in gross pay. After taxes and withholdings, the amount is $9,131.07. According to the deal, it also called for Kessel to give up his rights to sue the city for his termination, releases the city of any type of damages and stipulates that if a discrimination claim is filed and Kessel wins he would not be able to collect any money.

The agreement caused a bit of a ruckus after Councilor Hugh Taylor on April 3 said he wanted to see it before voting on it.

City Attorney Dean Chisholm said it was his understanding that councilors were to have the document.

Mayor Peggy Williams said she didn’t understand that to be the case.

“There are many things we can’t disclose, but it’s a public document and it should be available to whomever wants it,” Chisholm said.

An offer was made to read the document in full, but Williams said a recess could be taken for copies to be made and distributed to councilors, the public and media.

Clerk and Treasurer Leann Monigold subsequently made several copies.

The meeting was then opened for public comment and some said they thought the separation agreement was a good deal for the city.

“We got rid of a chief of police who wasn’t doing his job for $15,000. It seems like a pretty good deal,” city resident Kenny Rayome said.

Rayome questioned why the agreement wasn’t notarized and why Chisholm was involved instead of a Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority representative.

Chisholm replied that the deal between the city and Kessel was the 300th separation agreement he had done and that a notary is not required.

Taylor said he was glad the city could move forward.

SGT. RON Buckner delivered the city police report for the month of March during the meeting.

“March was busy,” Buckner said. “We had 212 cases, which was up from 186 in 2022. We’re starting to see some transients come in and thefts are on the rise.

“We really appreciate the help of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, too,” Buckner added.

Buckner said the 2021 and 2022 Incident Based Reports are caught up, which he said makes the city eligible for state and federal funding.

The city contracted with the Sheriff’s Office to cover shifts left open by the lack of municipal officers and also for administrative help to do required paperwork, such as the Incident Based Reports.

THE CITY has a plan for replacing Kessel and the open officer positions.

According to City Administrator Sam Sikes, the advertisement for the chief position was opened with the Job Service on April 5 and will be advertised in The Western News on April 7 and 12. Also, the position has been posted internally by city policy.

According to Sites, the mayor will screen the applications and determine if she would like to refer them to the city Police Commission or reject them based on qualifications.

Then, the Police Commission will have the opportunity to screen the application for qualifications.

Applications that were referred to the commission, and deemed qualified, will receive an in-person interview/examination from the commission and mayor with the assistance of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office in this case.

Sikes said Williams is looking at setting up a meet-and-greet following any interviews so that key people, including city employees, the media, councilors and the law enforcement community can get to know the applicants.

"This is important especially if the applicant is unknown to the key players," Sikes said.

Once all the qualified applicants for chief have been examined, the mayor will nominate one for the position and, with consent of City Council, appoint a new chief of police, according to Sikes.

Once a new police chief is appointed, that person will have the task of working with the commission and mayor to hire for the open officer positions (the mayor is the only one with hiring and firing authority in the city).

"To date the city has received eight applications that I am aware of for the officer positions," Sikes said.

Kessel was first placed on paid administrative leave on Dec. 7, while the city investigated the first claims of misconduct. After the city determined there was no misconduct, Kessel returned to work on Dec. 27.

At some point after Dec. 27, Kessel took six days of vacation, according to Taylor.

Kessel then began taking sick on Jan. 16 and never returned to work, according to Sikes.

A call to Kessel’s attorney, Ann German, was not returned by press time.

The results of a second investigation launched by the city have not been made public.

Chisholm did not reply to a request by The Western News for information about the second investigation. The probe began after the letter from the three officers was made public.

Kessel’s law enforcement career included stops in Tukwila, Washington, located near Seattle, as a military policeman in 1984 and the Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Office in Dillon, Montana.

He had been police chief since February 2017 when City Council appointed him to replace Terry Watson. Watson was appointed chief in 2015. Kessel was hired onto the force the same year.