NORTHAMPTON — The City Council is expected to confirm the appointment of John Cartledge as the next chief of the Northampton Police Department on Tuesday night, following a Committee on City Services hearing last week that resulted in a positive recommendation.

The committee, consisting of Ward 1’s Stanley Moulton, Ward 6’s Marianne LaBarge, Ward 4’s Jeremy Dubs and Ward 3’s Quaverly Rothenberg (who did not attend last week’s meeting), peppered Cartledge with questions during a roughly 45-minute period, though spoke positively regarding his potential appointment. Cartledge is already a familiar face to most city officials, having served in the department for nearly 30 years and had been serving as interim chief since the departure of former Chief Jody Kasper at the start of the year.

“I can’t tell you the phone calls that I got from people born and raised in the city with me very happy about this,” said LaBarge at the meeting.

She brought up a resolution put forth by the council making Northampton a “transgender sanctuary city” and asked Cartledge how he would approach instances of gender-based harassment.

In response, Cartledge committed to ensuring that the police department meets the city’s goals for equity.

“There’s not one officer on our department that would treat anyone any different than anyone else, and I feel like that’s what separates us from other departments,” Cartledge said. “Nobody should ever be frightened in our city and be harassed.”

Cartledge also addressed staffing issues in the department, which, like other departments across the state, struggles to fill open positions and often asks officers to work overtime shifts. Issues over staffing had resulted in the police department receiving additional funding in the fiscal 2024 budget for student officers, a move that came with some controversy in the city.

“Having [new officers] buy into our police department and want to stay is one of my big goals,” Cartledge said. “Even though you’re working for a police department, it’s a paramilitary organization, but still I don’t want employees to feel like they dread coming to work.”

Asked by Dubs what changes he would make to the police department as chief, Cartledge said he would strive for more community engagement with the public. Cartledge has already held several open meetings with city residents to hear concerns, and said he would develop more programs in the future.

“People can come talk to me directly, and it’s not at the police department so people don’t have to feel intimidated,” Cartledge said. “I feel like it’s a good way for people to be able to just meet me in the public and talk for a little while.”

Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra designated Cartledge to become the permanent chief four months after the creation of a seven-member search committee to oversee the hiring process for a new chief. The city also hired Public Safety Consultants of Boxford to aid in screening candidates.

According to the mayor’s office, four people applied to the position for chief, with candidates first screened by the consultants, who narrowed the choice down to two people. The search committee undertook a further review of the remaining candidates, conducting several interviews and role-play exercises, unanimously choosing Cartledge as its only finalist for the position.

During the City Services meeting, Sciarra said that although she was not legally required to form a commission and hire consultants before naming an eventual chief, she felt that the importance of the police chief position meant it was necessary to do so.

“I’m very grateful to Chief Cartledge that he was willing to go through that process, it was an incredibly extensive process,” Sciarra said. “This is such a critical position, it’s a position that’s looked at very carefully, it has great, great responsibility in the city and I thought it was important that we do a full search for that position even though we had an excellent candidate.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.