To: Barbara Matthews <barbaram@takomagov.org>

Barbara Matthews
City Manager
City of Takoma Park

Dear Ms Matthews,

        The members of the Old Town Residents' Association (OTRA) are
sorry that we will soon lose Police Chief Cindy Creamer to retirement. We
have found Chief Creamer to be open and responsive to community needs in
often-difficult moments.  We in Old Takoma especially appreciate her work
to address the needs of businesses and residents in and near the Main
Street our city shares with Takoma DC and also her attention to all parts
of the city.

        Chief Creamer's planned departure affords you an opportunity to
hire a replacement who shares her strengths and can address needs that are
as yet unmet.

        While you have the option of promoting from within, we urge you to
pursue a thorough search and competitive evaluation of candidates.  We ask
that you solicit the views and invite the participation of residents in an
advisory capacity.  As a start, OTRA would like to volunteer our thoughts,
as resolved in our May 18 meeting, that you look for --

- Experience as a senior manager in a force or division of comparable size
to Takoma Park's force of 41 authorized sworn officers plus civilian
employees.

- Demonstrated recruiting, management, and retention skills in building
and maintaining an effective, diverse police organization.

- Interest and experience in interjurisdictional and interdepartmental
collaboration.

- Strong abilities to communicate with and to elicit and respond to the
priorities of a diverse community and of elected officials.

- Commitment to community policing that gets officers visibly out on the
streets throughout the city.

- Strong budgeting and planning skills.

- Experience implementing and/or operating a performance-management
program that sets goals in terms of services, service levels, and desired
outcomes; establishes metrics; measures performance; reports variance; and
institutes remediation steps as needed.

- Commitment to stay on the job at least 5 years.

- Ability to speak Spanish is desirable.

        I and OTRA members are at your disposal for further discussions.

        Sincerely,

                                       Seth Grimes
                                       OTRA president