New Wilm. mayor on fixing urban gov't culture
Mike Purzycki, on 'changing the culture' of urban America
"So we're conducting analysis of our police department and interviewing candidates for Chief. Including our existing Chief.
"But what do I know about it? I'm talking about hiring a police chief like I do a cardiologist... You can hire someone who's a great guy, or a good friend, or a good Lieutenant. But that doesn't mean he'll be a good Chief. That's why we hired the Police Executive Search Foundation. We want stability in that department, going forward.
"People have asked me, how are we going to deploy the police? I have no idea. It's like hiring a football coach. It'll be his strategy. I know one thing, he won't be hiring my brother-in-law as defensive coordinator.
"We're putting into place strategies I believe will turn our city around.
"We have tremendous financial stresses. We did not anticipate $7 million of dollars in costs when those firefighters were tragically killed (three Wilmington firefighters died fighting a Canby Park rowhome fire last year). The city chose not to insure their workers' comp fund. So we went up to $7.5 million in unanticipated costs." (Wilmington's budget is $154 million this year; Purzycki has called for fewer firefighters and modest civilian staff reductions.)