Earlier this evening, the Urbana City Council approved Mayor Diane Marlin’s picks for Interim Police Chief and Interim Deputy Police Chief. Richard Surles and Matthew Bain were appointed, which marks a step up in rank and pay for each of them (from Deputy Chief and Lieutenant, respectively).
Surles and Bain attended tonight’s City Council meeting and turned on their webcams during the appointment votes, but neither spoke a word. Though the appointment term for both is two years, the Council did not ask any questions or engage in any discussion on the issue.
Council members Shirese Hursey and Maryalice Wu spoke briefly to offer general praise to the two appointees, but there did not appear to be any interest by any Council member to do anything but quickly rubber stamp the Mayor’s picks.
NFor the first time in years, no member of the public mentioned the Police Command Staff appointments during public input.
Interim Police Chief Richard Surles and Interim Deputy Police Chief Matthew Bain will hold their positions until April 1st, 2024. Mayor Marlin indicated that a new applicant for the Police Chief position could come sooner than 2024, but no timeline has yet been provided by the City.
The following Urbana City Council members voted yes to appointing Richard Surles and Matthew Bain:
- Jaya Kolisetty
- Maryalice Wu
- Christopher Evans
- Shirese Hursey
- Chaundra Bishop
- James Quisenberry
Grace Wilken was absent at tonight’s meeting.
A copy of the police appointments along with the Urbana City Council meeting agenda for March 28th, 2022 is provided below (click image for full PDF).
