Charlevoix hires McDonnell as new police chief
Annie Doyle
CHARLEVOIX — Jill McDonnell was unanimously approved for the position of police chief by the Charlevoix City Council during a special meeting on Jan. 26.
McDonnell, 53, was chosen out of 20 initial applicants. Feb. 6 will be her first day on the job.
With 28 years of law enforcement experience under her belt, McDonnell worked as the emergency management coordinator for Charlevoix and Emmet counties from 2020 to 2022. Prior to that, she held various positions with the Auburn Hills Police Department, leaving there as a lieutenant operations division commander.
She has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Ferris State University and attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia in 2014. McDonnell's husband, Terry McDonnell, is the current police chief for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and they live on the edge of Charlevoix and Hayes Township.
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McDonnell has two adult children, including a son who is a police officer in Auburn Hills and a daughter who works as an event planner for a golf course. Having grown up in Sterling Heights, she has lived in Charlevoix permanently since 2019, moving here from MacComb County.
In her free time, she likes to “boat, fish, walk and play with my dog”, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever who was a present from her husband.
McDonnell said she loves the beauty of Charlevoix.
“When I first got here, I worked at NorthBound boutique and everyday going into town I reminded myself of how lucky I was to live here and what a beautiful place it was,” she said.
In terms of challenges in the chief position, “I think law enforcement in general is seeing hard times,” McDonnell said, describing the nationwide staffing challenges in law enforcement, firefighting and EMS.
“There is not that call to public service like there was," she said. "When I started out, 200 people would show up for a job interview for one spot. Now the applications coming in for new law enforcement officers are very few."
Right now, the Charlevoix Police Department is fully staffed.
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As for her initial goals for the police department, McDonnell said, “The first thing is to look at everything and listen to what the officers have to say and what the community, city council and city manager has to say. You can only know so much from the outside, until you see the situation from the inside and really understand what is going on. I don’t have any decisions made going in.”
McDonnell also addressed the investigation surrounding the former police chief Gerard Doan, who resigned last fall after sexual harassment allegations.
“I think based on the investigation that was done in regards to Gerard Doan’s original complaint, sexual harassment training needs to be done. I don’t think there is a systemic problem within the agency. There are good people who work there. Training will reassure everybody that we are doing the right thing and figure out what to do from there,” she said.
McDonnell also felt that the alleged ticket-fixing by Doan was not a systemic problem, “but that can also be looked at and things can be put in place so there is no concern about that,” she said.
“The agency just needs to move forward from what has happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said McDonnell.
“I look forward to working with the citizens, the city council, the city manager and the officers. There are good people who work there and I'm looking forward to getting to know them. I look at things as a team approach. The Charlevoix Police Department team will move forward,” McDonnell added.
Rob Scholey, who was a finalist for the police chief position but dropped his bid, serves as the department’s deputy chief. There are five police officers and one administrative assistant.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com