Jason Fields tapped to head Fort Myers Police Department

Fort Myers City Council affirmed Jason Fields, a 20 year veteran of the Fort Myers police force, as chief of police after members twice failed to confirm City Manager Marty Lawing's first choice.

Lawing's first choice, Reo Hatfield, failed to get the needed four votes for approval last month, and the council again rejected him at Monday's meeting.

Faced with a divided council, Lawing decided on a home-grown choice and nominated Fields.

"The option to restart the process is not a good option; it is not feasible at this point," Lawing said.

Council confirmation came easily, on a 6-1 vote, with Ward 2 council member Johnny Streets voting against the appointment.

Fort Myers city manager turns to local candidate

In nominating Fields, Lawing chose one of the two local candidates, noting that the city needed a new police chief in place when Randall Pepitone retires in about six weeks. Pepitone, who did not apply for the job, has filled in since last year, when Chief Derrick Diggs went on medical leave. Diggs died in February of cancer.

The manager said that he had "a pretty good feel for what the needs are" in the police department, and, in particular, to have a permanent leader on the job when the interim chief retires.

"Chief Pepitone has done a good job, but it is kind of an awkward situation; there are things and decisions that you can’t make and there are decisions you should make," Lawing said. "That being considered, I think Chief Pepitone has done a great job and has been professional throughout the process."

Lawing asked again Monday for confirmation of his choice of Hatfield, a top police official in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for the position. It was the first meeting since the council initially refused to confirm Hatfield. As was the case Monday night, Hatfield mustered three votes of the four required by the city charter for confirmation.

Lawing then nominated Fields. City council members do not have the power to appoint a chief, their authority under the city charter is limited to a vote to confirm or reject the manager's recommendation.

Fields is expected to take over leadership of the department by Aug. 2. Pepitone has served notice that he intended to retire from the force on that date.

Councilwoman raises issue of female candidate

Ward 3 Council Member Terolyn Watson sharply criticized Lawton for not recommending Gina Hawkins, who appeared to have support of at least three candidates for the job at the council meeting last month.

"We lost the best candidate we had," Watson said. "She now has another job. Someone hired her as a deputy county sheriff ... the person who had police chief experience was Gina Hawkins, and you couldn’t bring her forward for whatever reason."

Mayor Kevin Anderson noted that he had appointed Fields to the department two decades ago when he was a ranking officer in the department.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Acting Major Jason Fields chosen to lead Fort Myers Police Department