Mayor Christiansen: “Sudler has his opinion. I have my job to do.”

The city of Dover is planning to accept applications from candidates nationwide in the search for a new police chief, a position left vacant by former Chief Paul Bernat who retired in January.

The job listing will be posted Friday, confirming efforts are underway; however, the process is not moving forward without some friction between Mayor Robin Christiansen and District 4 councilman Roy Sudler, Jr.

Mayor Christiansen made it clear Wednesday he will not step down from his position as chairman of the city's selection committee for Dover's next police chief, despite a request from Councilman Sudler.

"Mr. Sudler has his opinion. I have my job to do," says Mayor Christiansen.

The request was made Tuesday night after what Sudler calls "unprofessional" behavior at a January meeting between the Dover Police Department and Mayor Christiansen.

"He used vulgar language, he told the women they may want to leave, I'm going to use vulgar language," recalled Sudler.

According to Sudler, Christiansen's apparent outburst was the result of a number of city leaders publicly supporting Deputy Chief Marvin Mailey as the next police chief.

One of those city leaders, District 31 Representative Sean Lynn, even took to Facebook in January asking why Mayor Christiansen was delaying Mailey's selection and appointment.

During an interview with 47ABC Wednesday, Mayor Christiansen admitted he was "less than pleasant" at the meeting.

"I have a temper and I did kind of display it," he said. "I have asked the ladies in the room to leave and they chose not to."

However, he argues that the public display of support tainted and compromised the selection process.

"The bottom line is I told them, the chain of command would operate through the deputy chief until we had a new chief on board or he was promoted and that was the way it was going to be," says Christiansen. "I was not going to tolerate any influence within staff, from council, or from the FOP."

As chairman, Mayor Christiansen will make the final presentation of the committee's selection to the city council for a vote of approval. He pledged the applicant pool will include a nationwide search.

While Sudler says he does support Deputy Chief Mailey, he also tells 47ABC he is open to applicants.

"If someone else comes along that exceeds his credentials from my observation, then I will move that name forward. If not, then I will not move that name forward," says Sudler.

47ABC reached out to the Dover City Police Department for a statement; however, public information officer Corporal Mark Hoffman says they cannot comment about this pending selection process.

The selection committee will begin reviewing applications on March 17.