Hearing for Blair police chief moved to April

The city of Blair will be without its chief of police for at least a few more weeks as the date of the evidentiary hearing for the complaint  filed against Chief Kent Johnson has been moved to April 6.

The hearing was initially scheduled for March 10 with March 14 and April 6 as backup dates. Johnson has been suspended sine Jan. 24, following a complaint filed against him by city police officer Kimberlee Potts. The nature of the complaints has not yet been made public. Potts was identified as the complainant during a public hearing held in February.

Last week Monday the Blair city council met and voted to hire a hearing officer for the April 6 meeting. Previously, the city had planned on having attorney Jon Seifert — who had been hired as police commissioner for the city — make the final decision regarding any punishment for the chief, but Johnson’s attorney, Peter Reinhardt, objected. 

“I don’t see ... how you can be a fair and impartial decision maker as one, we will be challenging the way you went about doing the investigation. Also, we have some concerns about you giving legal advice to Miss Potts as part of the investigation,” Reinhardt said during the February hearing. 

 Reinhardt suggested having Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) Chairman James Daley assume Seifert’s role. Reinhardt said Daley had indicated that he would be willing to serve in the role, if needed. The action by the Blair council did not indicate who would be hired for the position.

Currently, Randy Jensen is serving as the interim chief in Blair. This is the second time Jensen has filled the position as he was also the interim chief after Tim Wheeler’s controversial resignation in early-2020. Jensen served as the interim chief for most of that year as the council struggled to find a replacement for Wheeler before hiring Johnson.