City closes in on police chief pick

After more than a year in limbo, Cloquet is closing in on getting a permanent police chief.

Three of five police chief candidates made it through to the finalist round following a brief discussion during Tuesday’s Cloquet City Council meeting. One of the five had already dropped out for personal reasons.

Interim Cloquet police chief Derek Randall is in the running for the position, along with Troy Bacon of Indiana, and Eric Klang of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.

Klang started his law enforcement career as deputy sheriff at the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office in 1992, before serving as sheriff 2002-2006, then deputy sheriff again 2007-2011. He has been police chief at the Pequot Lakes police department since 2011, and also an adjunct professor at St. Cloud State University. He has an associate’s degree in law enforcement, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration, has attended the FBI National Academy and is in the process of completing graduate coursework.

Bacon has been with the Franklin, Indiana, police department since 2004, and police chief there since 2012. He has a bachelor’s degree in law and society, and a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from Indiana State University.

Randall began his career in law enforcement with the sheriff’s office in Grant County, South Dakota in 1997 before moving to the sheriff’s office in Wright County, Minnesota in 1998. He started with the Cloquet Police Department in 2001 as a patrolman, was a detective 2004-2015, then investigative commander 2017-2019. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree from the public safety executive leadership program at St. Cloud University.

Randall has been interim police chief for eight months, ever since previous interim police chief (and fellow commander) Carey Farrell went on leave in September.

Prior to that, the police department had been in flux for some time. Ferrell had been the acting police chief since Chief Jeff Palmer went on “voluntary paid leave” in April 2019. A little over a month after Palmer officially resigned Aug. 8, 2019, Ferrell also went on voluntary paid leave Sept. 16, 2019, and Randall was appointed to the job.

Sharon Klumpp, a director with consulting company Baker Tilly, has been working with the city on a nationwide search for a new police chief, something that wasn’t done when Palmer was promoted.

Councilors and Mayor Roger Maki have stated that they want to be thorough and transparent in this police chief selection process.

The next step of the process will be interviews by two different groups: the Cloquet City Council and a community group, likely made up of representatives from local businesses, law enforcement agencies, public safety, the hospital and citizens.

Councilors will have an opportunity to suggest questions for the interviews, which will be conducted electronically, with Klumpp leading the interview process, city administrator Tim Peterson said. Klumpp asked that councilors fill out a form that will let her know what they are looking for in a candidate. The interviews are tentatively set for June 2, starting at 3:30 p.m. and should be open to the public, at least virtually.

Cloquet City Hall will likely reopen June 1, although council meetings will probably remain virtual, as they would involve gatherings of more than 10 people, Peterson said.