By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The Gardendale Police Department is looking for a few good men or women to fill vacated roles.

Chief Mike Walker said Friday that Lt. Kevin Howell has retired from the department, effective Dec. 1. He said Howell’s leaving brings the number of open positions to five.

“He reached a point in the pension system that it didn’t make sense to keep working,” Walker said of Howell. “We’ll miss him and we’ll wish him well.”

Howell had served as interim police chief after Chief Wallace Campbell retired in July. Walker, who was previously Leeds’ police chief, was hired last month.

However, both Walker and Mayor Kenny Clemons said Howell likely didn’t retire over not being chosen as police chief.

Howell could not be reached for comment.

“He had mentioned a couple of other enterprises that he’d like to go into aside from law enforcement,” Walker said.

Clemons said that he didn’t know of any problems that existed between Howell and Walker and said that Howell seemed relieved when Walker was hired.

“When you get 28 to 30 years in the retirement system, a person really has to look at himself to keep working,” Clemons said. “He’s been a great employee for the city and he still wants to come back and do some part-time policing for us.”

He said Howell would be missed because of his leadership experience in the department.

At Monday’s city council meeting, the council agreed to hire officer Clete Foshee, a UAB police officer, for the department. Walker said Foshee would start Monday.

Walker said the department had been looking at a list provided by the Jefferson County Personnel Board in hopes of finding new officers, but said the process “hasn’t gone too well.” He said he hoped the city would have a new list next week.

“They’ve changed their procedure and I think it’s going to be beneficial to us, because they’ll do continual testing and test every month,” he said. “It should give us a pool of candidates all the time.”

Walker said the city had no plans to name an acting lieutenant in Howell’s absence and said he should soon see a list for possible lieutenant hires.

He said it was unknown if the council would hire or name a captain in the department, despite a council resolution passed earlier this year to name a captain. “I don’t really see the need for it,” he said.