San Clemente City Manager Seems to Leave Door Open for Reinstatement of Ousted Police Chief

San Clemente City Manager James B. Hendrickson, who only last week was saying that there was no way ousted Police Chief Kelson McDaniel would be reinstated, seems now to have left the door open for that very possibility.

Testifying at a special hearing on the chief’s forced resignation, presided over by retired state appellate Judge Robert E. Rickles, Hendrickson said he would “consider (Rickles’) views and opinions, all the options and any information available to me” after the hearings have concluded.

Hendrickson made the statement in response to questions from McDaniel’s attorney, Fred T. Ashley, late Wednesday night and repeated them Thursday but refused to elaborate, particularly on the issue of possible reinstatement.

The hearings, which had been scheduled to conclude Wednesday with the testimony of McDaniel, have been continued until Sept. 7 because time ran out before McDaniel and a number of other witnesses could be called. Conflicting schedules of the judge, the attorneys and several witnesses precluded an earlier date.

The city manager asked McDaniel to resign May 28, after police officers gave the chief a vote of no confidence, complaining that his management style was overly punitive and that he disrupted their personal lives by requiring that they change shifts every 28 days.

In his opening arguments Monday, Ashley charged that Hendrickson had “succumbed and capitulated” to the police officers’ complaints.

But Hendrickson testified Wednesday that he decided to ask for McDaniel’s resignation only after an independent consultant concluded that the chief would have a difficult time re-establishing a good working relationship with his officers.

Thursday’s hearing was taken up with testimony from four of the five City Council members on when and how they learned of the deteriorating relations between the chief and the members of the police force. Councilman Brian J. Rice testified that he was contacted on May 16 by Russ Moore, president of San Clemente’s Peace Officers Assn., who asked if some council members would open the ballots of a no-confidence vote that had been taken.

The POA met at Rice’s home May 20, where he and Mayor Holly A. Veale opened and tallied the votes, they each testified.

They also said that during their meetings with police officers, they listened to the officers’ complaints, but expressed no opinions on the dispute. Councilman Robert D. Limberg testified that he believed that the City Council should have “little or no involvement” in the situation.

“I’ve always felt we have established a city council/city manager form of government, and this was clearly the city manager’s area of jurisdiction,” Limberg testified.

Councilman William C. Mecham said he also was contacted by officers during the period between the no-confidence vote and McDaniel’s dismissal and that he offered no opinions.

Ashley said he will call the remaining council member, Thomas Lorch, to the stand Sept. 7.

Also testifying at Thursday’s hearing was Charles R. Thayer, Tustin police chief for 10 years.

Ashley asked Thayer his opinion of no-confidence votes, in general.

“It (no-confidence vote) is an emotional outcry that very seldom, if at all, carries any specifics,” Thayer testified.

When a no-confidence vote has been taken, should the city manager and City Council step in? Ashley asked.

“Only if they wish to undermine the chief of police,” Thayer replied.

Acting San Clemente Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow, who was a lieutenant under McDaniel, testified that he was surprised by the vote and had not personally perceived the officers’ discontent.