Seaside council challenger runs on anti-police-chief platform.

The cops lining the back wall of the Seaside council chambers Aug. 7, as residents voiced fear and anger about the gang violence that took two young lives in July, were mostly silent. But retired Seaside police sergeant Ron Guth says he knows what they were feeling.

“They all worked for me or with me at one point, and they confide in me,” he says. “They’re tired, they’re worn out. You can see it in their faces when you talk to them – their morale is in the toilet.”

Now Guth is running for City Council, and Police Chief Vicki Myers is in his crosshairs.

As a councilman, Guth says, he’d demand an investigation into the “hostile working environment” he alleges Myers has created. He’d also consider replacing her boss (the only employee the council has the power to fire), City Manager John Dunn.

The Seaside Police Officers Association (POA) took a no-confidence vote against Myers last year, and the group is endorsing Guth for council.

Union vice president Devin Church says POA allegations against the chief include incompetence, lack of experience and retaliation. “We demand a resignation,” he says. “If we lose more officers fleeing Chief Myers, I don’t know where they’re going to find the bodies to fill those positions.”

Myers understands some Seaside officers are unhappy. The POA made big concessions in contract negotiations, and cops are working 12-hour shifts. But the economy should take some of the blame: Lower city revenues have cut SSPD staff by 17 positions, including nine sworn officers, since 2007-08.

Guth insists it’s not the budget, it’s Myers. “She’s off-the-charts strict,” he says. “It’s OK to rule with an iron fist, but you have to open up that fist sometimes to allow for some flexibility.”

Myers says she can’t publicly defend herself from allegations involving confidential personnel issues. “In California these things are protected by law,” she says. “That’s a very easy scapegoat.”

She will say this: If some officers feel she’s too much of a stickler for codified rules, she’s not sorry. “There are certain things I will not compromise,” she says. “I will not compromise ethics.”

The Weekly invited other Seaside candidates, besides Guth, to weigh in on the SSPD tensions. Read their responses here.

In general, the incumbents (Mayor Ralph Rubio and councilmen Dennis Alexander and Alvin Edwards) maintain POA grievances are best handled internally. The challengers (former Mayor Felix Bachofner and council candidate Jason Campbell) suggest the council could take a more active role.