Clearwater police Chief Dan Slaughter selected for assistant city manager

CLEARWATER — When police Chief Dan Slaughter spoke to City Manager Jennifer Poirrier earlier this month about his desire to serve in city administration, Poirrier said a major personnel decision that had been lingering became clear.

Poirrier announced Slaughter as her selection for assistant city manager on Friday without advertising the position or interviewing other candidates.

“I think he’s a good fit because of his proven leadership as it relates to operational issues, commitment to the community and his strong values that have been proven as it relates to accountability and integrity,” Poirrier said. “This is a huge opportunity and I’m just really very excited about the selection.”

Slaughter, 53, does not yet have a start date or confirmed salary for assistant city manager because he has to finalize his retirement from a 31-year career with the Clearwater Police Department, the last nine years of which he served as chief. He earns $171,791 in his current role.

Poirrier has not yet named an interim chief.

Slaughter’s promotion is the first major administrative move Poirrier has made since the City Council appointed her city manager last month and finalized her contract on April 4. The assistant city manager job had been in flux since October, when former City Manager Jon Jennings named Micah Maxwell, who had held the job, as the city’s first chief innovation officer.

Oversight of city departments is split between two assistant city managers, and the other position has been held by Assistant City Manager Michael Delk since 2019. Slaughter will be responsible for the Gas, Public Utilities, Public Works, Marine and Aviation, and Solid Waste/General Services departments and their directors.

“I know the city, I know a lot of the city personnel and I have a huge amount of confidence in Ms. Poirrier’s leadership,” Slaughter said. “I think all the chess pieces are in place for the city to have a wonderful next decade, and I’m excited to work in a different capacity to make that happen.”

Slaughter joined the Clearwater Police Department’s training academy in 1992 and soon after graduated from University of South Florida with a degree in criminology. Slaughter worked patrol, served as a homicide detective and was promoted to various roles, such as internal affairs sergeant and special operations lieutenant, before former City Manager Bill Horne named him chief in 2014.

As he climbed the ranks of the Police Department, Slaughter earned a master of business administration in 2007 from University of Phoenix. He said he knew his criminology degree was not marketable outside of law enforcement, and he was planning for the future.

In their last conversation before Horne died in August 2021, Slaughter said he talked to his longtime boss and friend about his desire to move into administration.

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Horne was three weeks from retirement, and Slaughter wasn’t sure what to expect from a future city manager. He didn’t want to relocate for police work elsewhere and he was curious about city administration.

“He thought I’d be a good fit for it,” Slaughter said of Horne’s reaction.

In his nine years as chief, Slaughter said he is most proud of the relationships he’s built with other law enforcement agencies in the area. In 2020, he also created a real time operations center, which coordinates information from multiple law enforcement and civilian networks to get instant access to video, data and other tools to solve crimes.

Slaughter has also been credited with strengthening a community policing program that has allowed officers to build relationships and trust with residents. During the nationwide protests in 2020 for racial justice, demonstrations in Tampa and St. Petersburg turned chaotic with dozens of arrests.

But at a peaceful demonstration in Clearwater, Slaughter was there talking to 200 marchers. The march leader, Elijah McGill, knew Slaughter because the chief provided assistance to a youth mentoring camp he was running a few years earlier.

“When we’re able to have open conversations with our city officials and have long-lasting relationships with city officials, then we’re able to come to the table so we don’t have to protest in front of the station,” McGill told the Tampa Bay Times in 2020.