Beaufort narrows new police chief field to two candidates - an insider and an outsider

The City of Beaufort announced that two candidates are in consideration for the city’s next chief of Police Wednesday.

The previous chief, Dale McDorman, retired on Jan. 26, after nearly 30 years with the department and two years as chief.

Interim Chief Stephenie Price, who was deputy chief under McDorman, and Chief Kenneth J. Klamar of Sunset Beach, NC are the two finalists narrowed down from five applicants from last week.

The inside candidate

Price came to the Lowcountry from Kansas City Mo. in 2019, when she joined the Savannah Police Department as assistant police chief. One year later she was picked to lead Bluffton’s police department.

However, in her time as the department’s chief she faced challenges. A quarter of the 16 sworn officers resigned in her first 13 months on the job. She defended her efforts at retention and pointed to a national climate of law enforcement hardship as the reason for officers resigning or retiring.

Former Mayor Lisa Sulka found the resignations “very concerning.” An outgoing officer blamed the turnover on a lack of transparency from Price and a preferential treatment of certain officers, according to previous reporting. Price resigned after less than two years as chief.

Price joined the Beaufort Police Department as Deputy Chief in early 2023.

The outside candidate

Klamer has nearly 30 years of experience in police work, according to a press release from the city. He was Chief of Police for Perkins Township in Sandusky, Ohio for eight years before taking a job as Chief in Sunset Beach. He’s been in that position since 2017.

From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the two candidates will be interviewed and will be available to meet the public on Friday, May 17. The two will face a citizen’s panel, appointed by Mayor Phil Cromer and the city council, in the Police Department Training Room. The interviews are open to the public and will be live-streamed on Zoom, the city said.

Starting at 3:00 p.m., the city council will interview finalists. Like the last set of interviews, the public is welcome to attend and the interviews will be live-streamed.

Finally, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., the finalists will have a meet-and-greet with members of the public at the foyer of City Hall.