The Waterloo Police Board of Commissioners met last Wednesday evening at City Hall to appoint a new sergeant, replacing former Sgt. Eric Zaber.

Following a lengthy closed session and an extended discussion that involved the board, Waterloo Mayor Stan Darter, Waterloo Police Chief Jeff Prosise and several members of the police department, WPD Officer Sean Wiegand was unanimously appointed to the position.

This marked the first major hiring or promotional decision made by the board since the new commissioners – Mark Yeager, Corey Zavorka and Sandy Sauget – were appointed by previous Waterloo Mayor Tom Smith in February following an abrupt resignation of the three prior commissioners. 

The conversation regarding a new sergeant appointment went on for nearly 30 minutes, with those in attendance raising various concerns about the promotion and testing processes for this position.

Following the meeting, Yeager summarized the testing process, noting the three components include a written test, oral evaluation and merit points that can be awarded to officers.

Per discussion from the meeting, these merit points are assigned by the commissioners based on written evaluations from the police chief.

As was also brought up at several points during the meeting, it is unclear how each component is weighted and thus how the final scores were assessed.

The overarching issue throughout the evening’s discussion was what criteria would be used to decide which of three top-testing officers would receive the promotion.

According to Prosise, the three officers with respective high-to-low scores were Andy Dahlem, Wiegand and Justin Braun.

Prosise began the discussion during the public comment portion of the meeting, pointing to the precedent that the highest-scoring officer has been selected for over two decades.

“I just wanted to make it on the record, I guess, that over the last 23 years for sure when we’ve had promotions… I understand there’s the rule of three, but in the past it’s always been from the top going down,” Prosise said. “I want your decision, if you make that decision tonight… all of the people on the list are good officers. I just want you to think about that. I think the decision should be made on some facts and not just what other people are saying in the department.”

Dale Siebenberger, one of the WPD officers present, voiced his opinion next, saying the board decision should be made based on “quality of the officer, not who is the chief’s favorite.”

“For the last 23 years, the numbers… it’s whoever is the favorite of the person in charge wins sergeant,” Siebenberger said. “The last testing schedule, I didn’t even test because we knew (Trin) Daws, (Dane)Luke and Zaber were gonna be sergeants. Everybody in Monroe County knew they were gonna win, and how did it come out? One, two, three.”

Much of the remainder of the discussion bounced back and forth between talk of how the tests were conducted and organized and how the list and scores were ultimately compiled.

Sauget and Yeager noted the issue the board faced as they were left to make a decision based on the work of the previous commissioners.

Prosise noted after the meeting that the current list of potential sergeants went into effect in May 2022, with Cliff Haddick having been promoted based off of it.

“The unfortunate part for us three was we’re catching this second-handed, if you will,” Yeager said. “We were not able to interview Andy, Sean, Justin, which is what we would have liked to have done. We would have liked to sat down and had a face-to-face, heart-to-heart with these guys, ask them the same exact questions. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do that.

“We’re gonna have to,” Yeager continued, “us three, are gonna have to go off our gut feelings, looking at the test scores, and make a decision from that.”

The commissioners eventually returned from an executive session, selecting Wiegand as the new sergeant with no immediate disagreement from anyone present during the meeting.

The only other item of discussion last Wednesday involved the ongoing physical testing of a potential WPD hire.

Per the City of Waterloo website, the police board “is responsible for testing, appointing, promoting, disciplining, suspending and discharging police department sworn personnel, except for the police chief. The board also conducts hearings on charges brought against a member of the police department.”

Police board members serve three-year staggered terms and meet as needed.