ST. LOUIS — Officials and experts said ӣƵ could not have landed its new police chief — or any external candidate — if a local foundation did not offer to contribute an extra $100,000 annually to his pay.
Incoming police Chief Robert Tracy, who comes to ӣƵ with a reputation for culture change and crime prevention, will make $275,000 a year, far more than former chiefs here and also chiefs in similarly sized cities. The ӣƵ Police Foundation is contributing the extra cash.
And that puts Tracy into a growing group of public servants paid by private dollars.
“I don’t think ӣƵ would have been able to attract an outside candidate without the salary being adjusted in some way,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C. “Cities are having to be much more creative in how they get outside candidates.”
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Public Safety Director Dan Isom introduces Robert Tracy as the first ӣƵ police chief named from outside the department ranks on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, at City Hall. Tracy was the former chief in Wilmington, Del.
The market for some public servants has gotten ultra-competitive, making it harder for smaller cities to compete for big names. So donors pitch in, helping their beloved institutions land new chiefs, from college football coaches to museum directors. In ӣƵ, they make up some of the highest paid public employees: Brent Benjamin, former director of the ӣƵ Art Museum, made just under $1 million in compensation in 2019, which was funded by private donations. And a portion of former ӣƵ Zoo President and CEO Jeffrey Bonner’s $1 million compensation came from an endowment.
“It’s not unusual at all to have a philanthropic group of some sort to go ahead and make a contribution to somebody’s salary,” said former ӣƵ Alderman Joe Roddy, who served on the board for more than 30 years before stepping down in 2021.
The ӣƵ Police Foundation’s decision, he said, was “good corporate citizenship.”
Another longtime former alderman, Fred Wessels, said the new chief deserves the compensation he’ll receive but expressed concern about an outside entity funding just under 40% of that pay package.
“If we can’t pay our police chief without an outside organization we’ve got problems,” he said. “I would want the police chief to have one allegiance and that is to the mayor and other elected officials.”
Cities similar in population to ӣƵ including Durham, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lincoln, Nebraska, all said they do not supplement any city employee’s pay with funds from outside organizations, one citing long-term sustainability concerns.
Cincinnati, slightly larger in population but often compared to ӣƵ, said it has never used private funding for city salaries and isn’t allowed to under the city’s municipal code.
Those cities’ police chief salaries range from $148,000 in Pittsburgh to $187,000 in Lincoln to $197,000 in Durham. Cincinnati just hired a new police chief as well, and while her contract has not been finalized, a city spokesman said the last chief made around $166,000.
In ӣƵ, retired police Chief John Hayden made $153,000.
The city began its search for a new police chief over a year ago, when Hayden announced his retirement. But Mayor Tishaura O. Jones told the Post-Dispatch she was dissatisfied with the first search, which landed on just two finalists, both white men with long careers in the department.
Robert Tracy recently stepped down as police chief in Wilmington, Delaware.
Tracy was one of four finalists in the second search, besting Larry Boone, a former police chief in Norfolk, Virginia; Melron Kelly, a deputy chief from Columbia, South Carolina; and ӣƵ’ interim chief, Lt. Col. Michael Sack.
The city announced Tracy’s appointment Wednesday. Tracy, the police chief now in Wilmington, Delaware, is set to start here Jan. 9. The city will pay him $175,000, not including the foundation’s assistance.
Wexler, from the Washington research forum, said he’s seen cities offer things such as housing and university affiliations to supplement salaries. Because Tracy made almost $215,000 as Wilmington chief, he said, ӣƵ had to offer him a higher salary.
Doug Albrecht, chairman of the ӣƵ Police Foundation, said his agency offered to help.
“We became aware that the Regional Business Council was helping the search for a new chief and that one of the limiting factors was going to be compensation,” Albrecht said.
Its 25-member board is filled with influential ӣƵans including Kathy Osborn, president and CEO of the Regional Business Council; Bob O’Loughlin, chairman and CEO of Lodging Hospitality Management, which owns Union Station and Westport Plaza; and Bill Dewitt III, president of the ӣƵ Cardinals.
The foundation said it has raised more than $30 million since its founding in 2007. In 2020, it had just over $6.5 million in savings, according to tax documents. It provides programs, training and equipment to both the ӣƵ Metropolitan and ӣƵ County police departments, including police dogs, COVID protective gear, metro air support supplies, real time crime center support, shot spotter enhancement and uniforms.
About two-thirds of the foundation’s money goes to the city department and a third to county police, Albrecht said.
The foundation declined to provide a copy of its agreement with Tracy but said it would like the chief to attend at least one public meeting each year with each of the city’s 14 wards and host quarterly town hall meetings with ӣƵ police officers to share the state of the department. After three years, the foundation will evaluate and decide whether to continue paying the extra cash.
Albrecht said the foundation did not play a role in the city’s recruitment or selection process.
But the contribution helped the city in another big way: An obscure in the ӣƵ city charter requires the fire chief’s salary be at least equal to the ӣƵ police chief’s wages.
Sonya Jenkins-Gray, the Department of Personnel’s director, confirmed Thursday the city will boost Chief Dennis Jenkerson’s salary — but to $175,000, not to Tracy’s full pay.
Jenkerson declined to comment.
In 2021, Jenkerson made $153,158, according to the ӣƵ pay database.
The fire chief’s wages were also equal to Hayden’s predecessor, police Chief Doyle “Sam” Dotson’s salary, according to the database. Dotson held the title of chief from 2013-2017.
Jenkerson has worked for the city since since June 1979 and has been the fire department’s chief since November 2007.
He’s held the position as at least five police chiefs have come and gone.
ӣƵ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, at a press conference Wednesday morning announcing Tracy's appointment, called him detail-oriented, organized, data-driven and dedicated to building community trust.
