Petaluma to name deputy police chief

A top Petaluma administrator said he anticipates the city to have a plan in place for filling the roles of retiring police Chief Patrick Williams and departing human resources manager Dianne Dinsmore by early October.

Completion of the plan could come as soon as the end of next week, said Scott Brodhun, Petaluma’s assistant city manager. The duo of department heads informed the city their plans to leave last Monday.

Williams will serve his last day with the city on Oct. 8, and Dinsmore, on Oct. 6.

Having joined the city as police chief in 2012, Williams said last week that he planned to remain a resident of Petaluma and transition to a private sector job in corporate security. Dinsmore, who joined in 2014, said she would be moving to a role as human resources director for Contra Costa County, and would continue to reside in Rohnert Park.

The Petaluma City Council is expected to vote on whether to authorize a new deputy police chief role during its Oct. 3 meeting, but Brodhun said the job is not related to Chief Williams’ succession.

“It is not related to the chief’s retirement and has been scheduled for some time,” said Brodhun, in an email. The vote was cited as an expected future item as early as Aug. 1.

Brodhun said a report on the specifics of the deputy chief role was still under development.

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)