Troy appoints trio to police commission as it narrows chief search

While the search for a new police chief continues, some Troy residents recently found out the municipality has a new city attorney.

City Council members met Monday night to appoint members to a police commission that will have a partial say in who becomes the next chief.

Veteran chief Katie Davis worked her last day with the department on July 5. She took a job with the county drug treatment court.

Troy Mayor Chuck Ekstedt said a council member brought it to council’s attention that a police commission, per state law, had to be part of the hiring process.

The three appointees approved for the commission Monday night are Linda Rodriguez, Ed Hanson and Bob Peterson.

Ekstedt said they will help decide what the exam looks like, perform background checks, health checks and the state code requirements for police officers.

“I apologize for the confusion,” Ekstedt said after the meeting. “We didn’t know how it worked and it hasn’t come up since I’ve been here.”

Davis was hired in June 2017 after working in Troy Dispatch for several years.

Ekstedt said there are two candidates for the position, one local and one who lives out of the area. He declined to provide their names.

Ekstedt said when the job was advertised, the city received 14 applications. They initially interviewed eight people before narrowing the list to two.

Ekstedt said he, councilors Scott Hoffman, Shawna Kelsey, deputy county attorney Jeff Zwang and new city attorney Levi Roadman and a few others were part of the initial team that did interviews.

Ekstedt thought a new chief could be hired in the next two to four weeks.

Roadman took over city attorney duties in May after the city decided to not renew the contract of Whitefish firm of Hedman, Hileman and Lacosta. Clif Hayden, a member of the firm, was Troy’s attorney.

According to a 2014 story in The Western News, the city contracted with Hedman, Hileman and Lacosta to provide legal services for the city. At the time, city officials said using an outside contractor would save money.

Roadman, who passed his bar exam in Sept. 2022, previously worked for the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office before going to work in the Montana Attorney General’s Office for a few months before resigning in 2023.

Roadman also works for a private practice. He said his interest in the Troy position was because he lives there.

“I have skin in the game, I live here and I want to work with our officers here, help them with training, keep them updated on new precedents,” Roadman said. “Our officers want to get better. It might seem to be small stuff, but it’s important.”