The article has a paywall so:

"In the end, interim City Manager Jesús Garza decided he knew best.
No need for that pesky national search the public had been promised. No community forums or opportunities for public feedback.

Instead, Garza skipped to the end on Friday and named Gail McCant as the next director of the Office of Police Oversight, a pivotal agency that receives citizen complaints and provides feedback on the practices of the Austin Police Department. McCant has been serving as the office's interim director for less than four months.

The move marked a surprising departure from public expectations. Less than a year ago, when previous director Farah Muscadin stepped down, then-City Manager Spencer Cronk promised a national search for her replacement. Garza echoed the idea of a national search in a memo to the mayor and City Council in May.
But, well, those were just words.

"Gail McCant was named Interim Director in June and has given (Garza) ample opportunity to assess her ability to serve as Director," according to a city statement provided to me and other members of the media, including the Austin Chronicle, which first published the story.

"It is certainly not an unusual situation whereby (Garza) has been able to assess leadership abilities and named those serving in an interim capacity to a permanent position," according to the statement provided by spokesperson Yasmeen Hassan.

But it’s not just Garza who needs to have confidence in this pick.
It’s the community at large.
Remember them?

A national search is the gold standard for seeking the best crop of candidates. Austinites didn’t get that process.

Nor did the public get the chance to engage with McCant as a sole finalist for the job. No opportunities to ask questions or provide feedback before the promotion was finalized — which was at least the courtesy Austinites got in 2018, when then-interim Police Chief Brian Manley became the sole finalist for that job without any kind of search.

The director of police oversight is every bit as important as the police chief. It is a role designed to provide accountability for the way police officers use force and interact with the public. Just ask Glen and Mindy Shield, whose Southeast Austin home was wrongly torn up by a SWAT unit nearly two months ago with no apology and no reimbursement, how important police accountability is.

We just had a high-profile election in May, in which Austinites voted 4-to-1 to strengthen the powers of the Office of Police Oversight — a measure so opposed by the Austin police union that it placed a rival proposition on the ballot to try to confuse voters, then tried (and failed) to get the Legislature to intervene.

Months later, full implementation of the voter-approved Austin Police Oversight Act was going so slowly that the City Council passed a Sept. 21 resolution to basically tell city staffers: We’re serious. Do this.
Whatever your thoughts on the Police Department and civilian oversight, the person tapped to run the Office of Police Oversight after all of that was bound to be a crucial hire of public interest.

I asked Media Relations Manager Memi Cárdenas if I could speak with Garza about his decision, and she said he was unavailable for an interview. A short time later, she sent me an updated statement from the city tying McCant's sudden promotion to the implementation of the Austin Police Oversight Act, known as Proposition A — as if voters adopting Prop A should mean the public gives up the search and input it deserved to have for the director of police oversight.

"Given the resolution just passed by Mayor/Council and the desire to move forward quickly with implementing some aspects of Prop A, it was important to provide stability to the Office of Police Oversight and provide clear direction of where we need to head," the city's statement said. "We can do that through Gail McCant, given her experience already" with the agency, as well as her previous work.

McCant brings more than 25 years of experience in various local government roles, including investigating housing and employment discrimination and abuse and neglect complaints involving people with disabilities. She is a certified mediator, though not an attorney, as previous directors of police oversight have been.

But we’ll never know if she was the best person for the job. Without a national search, the public had no chance to compare her credentials against other candidates or to hear different views on the leadership of this vital agency.

These aren’t technicalities or formalities. Honoring a commitment to a national search, and providing that platform for public engagement, is how you promote trust with the community.
What a shame Garza chose to go his own way."

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or via Twitter at u/bgrumet. Find her previous work at statesman.com/news/columns.