Winslow manager criticized for handling of police department

Ray Rardon, a former Navajo County trial attorney, told the council that he was not pleased with the action taken by City Manager Stephen Pauken regarding the police department and the hiring of Chris Vaquez to oversee the department. He addressed a memo in which Pauken clarified with Vasquez that he is not serving as an interim chief, but was hired through Interim Public Management and suggested that he view himself as an “assistant city manager,” as he is no longer a certified police officer through Arizona Post.

Although Vasquez has 38 years of law enforcement experience, serving with Casa Grande Police Department and as Pinal County Sheriff for 20 years, without his certification he is unable to provide feedback to investigations, carry a gun, direct officers or handle any job-related incidents that may occur.

Rardon accused Pauken of not being able to do his job and as a result the city was paying Vasquez $16,000 per month as an assistant manager. “So who is the police chief, who’s running the police department? Hopefully not Lt. (Ken) Arend who’s the same person who basically hid corruption at the police department in the past two years,” stated Rardin.

Rardin also criticized the council for allowing Austin Shipley, the officer involved in the March 26 shooting death of Loreal Tsingine, to continue to receive his salary while he is on administrative leave while the incident remains under investigation. “So for six months we’ve been paying Officer Shipley to do nothing. What’s going on here? I mean, we don’t have a police chief so I don’t understand,” he said.

He also addressed the city’s response on June 20 to Lt. Jim Sepi’s complaint to Arizona Post, the agency that certifies police officers in Arizona, regarding Shipley’s conduct. “You said basically that you talked to Chief (Steve) Garnett and said nothing’s wrong,” Rardin said, concluding that the city asked the same people that Lt. Sepi complained about if they thought something was wrong.

He again asked who was “running the show” if Vasquez was not certified to act as a chief. Rardin stated that he would return to the council in a month with a slide show of what Shipley had done to cause Sepi to file the complaint. He also stated that he wasn’t done addressing the matter at hand and that he would be contacting Pauken to see what had been done regarding the investigation in Shipley that is currently being done by the Mesa Police Department.

He concluded by telling Pauken, “You should resign.” A comment that prompted Mayor Robin Boyd to state, “We won’t let him,” with members of the council echoing the statement.

As the matter was addressed during Call to the Public, neither the mayor nor the council was able to comment to the statements made by Rardon.