The Rock Falls City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Dec. 16, to approve the appointment of Ryan McKanna as the city’s new police chief.

It’s a move that ends months of contention that surfaced among city leaders after previous police chief David Pilgrim retired Sept. 30.

McKanna, formerly a Rock Falls patrol sergeant, was one of five in-house candidates considered by the council’s Police and Fire Committee to replace Pilgrim. That list, narrowed to three, was then forwarded on to Rock Falls Mayor Rod Kleckler to make the final selection.

As chief, McKanna told Shaw Local, he plans to focus on community outreach and is very excited about his new role.

McKanna, a native of Rock Falls, has nearly 12 years of experience in law enforcement. He served as a corrections deputy at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and a patrol officer at the Freeport Police Department before being hired by the Rock Falls department in 2015. At Rock Falls, he served as patrol officer before being promoted to patrol sergeant in 2018, according to city records.

“My ultimate goal is to see the Rock Falls Police Department progress forward and continue to evolve. I love this community and want to see it flourish and succeed,” McKanna wrote in his application for chief.

The road to the appointment

Pilgrim’s retirement went into effect Sept. 30. At a committee meeting that night, Kleckler announced to the council that he’d selected Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy Rollie Elder as the next chief.

[ Rock Falls police, council balk at mayor’s police chief selection, say in-house resumes were ignored ]

In response, eight members of the Rock Falls Police Department spoke out against an outside hire, said their applications for the position were not presented to the council and that they felt their years of loyalty and service to the city were not valued.

City Administrator Robbin D. Blackert and Alderperson Violet Sobottka said they were only given Elder’s application. In an October interview, Kleckler told Shaw Local News Network he has “no authority to show those applications to anyone else.”

City records show that, in addition to Elder, six Rock Falls officers submitted applications for the chief position: McKanna, Deputy Chief Doug Wolber, Sgt. Mitchell R. Ottenhausen, Detective Sgt. Jeremy Vondra, Sgt. Jonathan Cater and Officer Betony Gluff.

Sobottka called the hiring process “a one-person campaign to sway the council” at the Sept. 30 meeting. She said the mayor is supposed to work with the city administrator to narrow down candidates, but Kleckler didn’t do that.

Rock Falls City Code says the police chief is appointed by the mayor with the consent of the council.

After all council members indicated they would vote no to appoint Elder chief at that Sept. 30 committee meeting, the council voted to appoint McKanna interim chief at its meeting Oct. 7.

[ Rock Falls City Council appoints McKanna as interim police chief; mayor says city in ‘no hurry’ to hire ]

Days after that, Kleckler told Shaw Local the city was in “no hurry” to hire its next police chief and said McKanna could serve as interim chief until 2026.

Sobottka said the council was deadlocked because Kleckler hadn’t brought them another candidate, leaving the police department with no solid leader.

As a result, an ordinance was written, but did not pass, that would have limited Kleckler’s power to appoint department heads. Most notably, it would’ve made a council-appointed commission responsible for hiring the police and fire chiefs and added a committee-led hiring and review process for all positions, according to the proposed ordinance.

[  Rock Falls mayor’s deciding vote on department head appointment ordinance allows him to retain sole control ]

That ordinance was voted down at the council’s Nov. 18 meeting, with Kleckler casting the deciding vote of no due to a near tie and one absent alderperson.

Alderpersons Marshall Doane, Cathy Arduini and Steve Dowd voted no, while Violet Sobottka, Vickey Byrd, Nathan Stahr and Gabriella McKanna voted yes. Alderman Bill Wangelin was absent.

Wangelin voted yes on the ordinance at the previous meeting Nov. 4, meaning he agreed that the ordinance should be up for a final vote at the next meeting.

Doane and Dowd told Shaw Local they voted no because they didn’t think the police and fire commission should be in charge of appointing those department chiefs.

Sobottka said the commission handles the hiring for lower-ranking officers in those departments.

On Dec. 10, the police and fire committee met and considered five members of the Rock Falls Police Department for chief. McKanna was one of three recommended by the committee.

The committee, separate from the commission, is led by Dowd. Its members are Stahr, Doane and Arduini, city Business Superintendent Michelle Conklin told Shaw Local.