Umatilla Hires New Police Chief

Starting at the end of the month, a new person will take the reins as the new chief of police for the Umatilla Police Department.

Ronald Bridge will start his new role Dec. 27 and take his oath of office Jan. 2.

Bridge has worked in law enforcement in Utah for more than two decades. He has “a deep commitment to community and public safety,” according to a press release from the city, which also said he has earned awards for his work.

Bridge’s previous positions have included chief of police and administrative sergeant at Utah Tech University, detective sergeant for Summit County Sheriff’s Department in Utah and reserve officer for Heber City Police Department in Utah.

“I was excited about the opportunity because I was raised in a very small community in northern Utah,” Bridge, 50, said in an interview. Additionally, Bridge and his wife, Amy, have family living in Pendleton, so they have some familiarity with the area.

Umatilla City Manager David Stockdale said in the release that Bridge has a history of helping officers step into leadership roles, which will be an asset to UPD leaders, many of whom are new to their positions.

“I’m fairly certain that the department is nervous for their future,” Bridge said, “but their incoming chief is also just as nervous. I look forward to those challenges.”

He said his leadership and supervisory style involve an emphasis on open communication, broad participation in decision making and approaching challenges as a group.

“Bridge made evident a clear history of success and exhibits vision, integrity, communication, a strong desire for collaboration and partnership with his fellow officers and regional partners, decisiveness, a value of community engagement, and a genuine love for public service,” Stockdale said in the press release.

“We had quite an extensive hiring process once the finalists were selected,” Jonathan Egan, the city’s human resources manager, said in an interview. He also said Bridge’s previous experience as a chief is one piece of what stood out about Bridge compared to other candidates for the role.

Bridge’s leadership skills, said Egan, were evident throughout the three panel interviews he underwent as part of the final stage of the selection process.

The first was a panel of police department employees, including officers and sergeants, who could ask industry-specific questions and get a feel for what it would be like to work closely under him. The second consisted of city department heads, who were able to assess him as a potential future peer. The Umatilla City Council filled the final panel. Egan said councilors saw how Bridge “would react and interact with elected officials.”

After all three interviews were in early November, and Stockdale made the final decision.

Bridge, like the other finalists, Egan said, took a town tour with Darla Huxel, who is retiring as the city’s police chief, to help the interviewees get a sense of the city and begin to learn about the challenges they’d face in the position. He’ll get the chance to gain more insight from her during their one-week overlap as she leaves her position and he steps into the role.

“I can say with excitement just how much I am looking forward to this opportunity,” Bridge said.

He and Amy have even bought a house in the city of Umatilla, which they’ll move into with their two dogs, Dolly and Maggie, after the new year.

“I intend to be the chief of police for Umatilla for many, many years to come,” Bridge said, “so we’ll be there for quite some time.”

Bridge will oversee the 13 other sworn officers in the department and will serve alongside other city department heads.

Bridge will replace Huxel, who is retiring after 26 years with the department — serving as chief since 2005 — and was UPD’s first woman officer and chief of police. His salary will likely start in the range of $114,996 to $124,908, or at one of the first three steps of the city’s salary scale. Huxel most likely departs from step nine, or the highest salary, said Egan, which is $155,760.

Huxel’s retirement was initially announced in July. She has come under scrutiny because of a lawsuit against a former sergeant, Bill Wright, who is accused of failing to properly investigate a claim of sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl because of her gender.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman dismissed suits claiming discrimination, negligence and due process against Huxel, police Lt. Keith Kennedy and the city in October. Huxel is not directly involved in the federal civil rights case, though Wright had worked under Huxel throughout her tenure as chief.

That same judge previously admonished the city and Wright’s supervisors, including Huxel.

“When I read this complaint, even if I said everything is true,” Hallman said during a hearing in July, as reported by The Oregonian/Oregon Live, “what it seems like is you had a city and supervisors just asleep at the wheel, while an individual was just not doing his job and behaving discriminatorily.”