CAPITOLA — Capitola’s highest ranking police official announced he intends to soon step down from his role after almost three years on the job.
Police Chief Andy Dally intends to retire from his services with the city of Capitola by the end of the year, according to a staff report posted late last week in advance of the City Council’s upcoming meeting Thursday. The announcement is expected to kickoff an internal recruitment process, with interviews that could begin as soon as September, pending review and approval of the plan from the council.
“I live in town, so I don’t plan on going anywhere. Just want to take some time and find out what the next chapter brings,” Dally told the Sentinel. “It’s kind of surreal because I feel young. But I also understand that, you know, sometimes you close a chapter and it just opens up a new chapter. So I’m just looking forward to what that next new chapter is.”
Dally, 50, first joined the Capitola Police Department in 1999 after serving the Butte County Sheriff’s Department for five years. After arriving as a police captain, Dally was selected to succeed former Police Chief Terry McManus in 2021 after a nationwide search.
Dally said his own promotion from within was a historical rarity for the police department, which typically hired from the outside, and it’s a new tradition he said he has worked hard to foster as chief with the hope that it will continue going forward.
“Part of my goal was to create succession planning,” said Dally. “I think I’ve done that and prepared people below me to, kind of, step into those new roles.”
City Manager Jamie Goldstein is responsible for hiring the next police chief, according to the staff report, which recommended an internal review process, internal recruitment and candidate screening followed by engagement with two interview panels consisting of community members, several department heads and as many as two City Council members. The second panel will consist of current and retired chiefs of police.
The recruitment plan requires approval from the City Council which will give it a closer look at its meeting this week, set for 6 p.m. within council chambers at 420 Capitola Ave. in Capitola.
Among his proudest–and most challenging–memories of leading the team in blue came during the historic 2022-2023 winter when a string of atmospheric river storms battered the Central Coast, ripped Capitola’s iconic wharf in two and flooded local businesses along the esplanade. The coastal onslaught jarred the community, and it didn’t take long for images of the disaster to go viral, attracting statewide and national attention including two visits from Gov. Gavin Newsom and a tour of the wreckage with President Joe Biden.
Those visits, Dally said, required a great deal of local law enforcement planning and resources and he was satisfied with the way the job got done.
“It was definitely law enforcement involved and it took the whole city and it was really neat to see the citizens come together,” said Dally. “Just everything, it was pretty remarkable.”
An avid surfer, Dally said he hopes to more thoroughly explore the local wave breaks once he officially steps off duty for good in November. He and his wife, Christy, have lived in Santa Cruz for years, and in addition to more fully exploring all that the city –and county as a whole — has to offer, Dally plans to volunteer around town with community organizations such as the Veteran Surf Alliance to stay plugged in.
“There’s so many other community events that I really want to continue to participate in and really enjoy from a citizen’s perspective,” said Dally. “There’s so many great activities around town … just enjoying Santa Cruz.”