Snoqualmie is searching for a new police chief, and one of three finalists is currently named in an active gender discrimination lawsuit with a court date scheduled for later this month.
The city opened the search in February 2026 and introduced its three finalists at a meet-and-greet at Snoqualmie City Hall on April 30. On April 16, Living Snoqualmie asked the city to release the names of the finalists ahead of the event. City Communications Coordinator / PIO Scott Harder responded that the names would be announced at the meet-and-greet. In 2016, the city announced four candidates publicly before interviews began.
The three finalists are Scott Miller, interim Chief Gary Horejsi and Scott Ebner.
Scott Miller has more than 25 years of law enforcement experience. He most recently served as Chief of Police in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where he spent his entire career and was the first internal hire for chief in more than 20 years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
Gary Horejsi has served as Snoqualmie’s interim chief since April 2025, when he was appointed following the termination of Chief Brian Lynch. Horejsi has nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience, including time with the Enumclaw Police Department before joining Snoqualmie.
Ebner served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the New Jersey State Police from 1995 to 2022. He was hired as Glynn County, Georgia’s Police Chief and Public Safety Director in 2023. The Glynn County Board of Commissioners announced his resignation on December 22, 2025, effective June 30, 2026. No reason was given for his departure. Glynn County Manager William Fallon praised Ebner’s leadership on his departure, noting he left the department in far better shape than when he arrived. [1]
In December 2021, four female New Jersey State Police troopers filed a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey, the Division of State Police, and three named supervisors, including Ebner. The plaintiffs are Wanda Stojanov, Dawn Curran, Claire Krauchuk, and Rebecca Hotchkin. The lawsuit alleges gender discrimination, a hostile work environment, and repeated failure to promote female officers. Ebner is named in his official and individual capacity. The complaint was amended in May 2023, at which point a judge ruled the allegations sufficient to go to trial.
The complaint includes specific allegations against Ebner. In February 2017, Ebner attempted to transfer Stojanov out of the Colonel’s office, telling her she had no choice and that the move was his idea. When she objected that the transfer was based on her gender, he reversed the decision. He attempted the transfer again in June 2017 and carried it out, though it was later rescinded. The complaint also alleges Ebner made unauthorized inquiries into Stojanov’s personal medical records and repeatedly excluded her from promotion interview pools.
The case, docket MER-L-2619-21, is active in Mercer County Superior Court. A settlement conference is scheduled for May 19, 2026.
According to a June 2023 article in The Current, published by Georgia Public Broadcasting, at least two other cities dropped Ebner from consideration for police chief positions because of the lawsuits. Those cities were Aurora, Colorado and Kansas City, Missouri.[2]
In December 2023, the New York Times reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had begun an investigation into gender and racial discrimination at the New Jersey State Police, with federal officials meeting with the U.S. attorney for New Jersey and more than a dozen former troopers, lawyers, and civil rights leaders.
The search comes as Snoqualmie’s police department has navigated significant leadership instability. Chief Perry Phipps resigned in June 2023 after serving since 2017. His departure led to Lynch being named interim chief and, later, permanent chief in November 2023. Lynch was terminated on April 10, 2025, following an external investigation that found sustained violations of city personnel policies.
Documents obtained by Living Snoqualmie through a public records request revealed that the investigation examined allegations of sexual harassment, unprofessional conduct, and favoritism in promotions. The report found that Lynch repeatedly engaged in inappropriate workplace behavior and that his conduct violated city harassment policies.
Before Lynch, the department hired Nick Hogan in 2014 after he was terminated by the Tukwila Police Department. Hogan was later convicted of a federal civil rights violation stemming from his time in Tukwila, in which he used pepper spray on a handcuffed, restrained man in a hospital. He was sentenced to nine months in prison and terminated by Snoqualmie in 2016 after federal charges were filed. During his time with the Snoqualmie department, Hogan was placed on leave twice, in October 2015 for allegations of misconduct and in February 2016 for sending sexually explicit texts while on duty.
Mayor James Mayhew, who took office in January 2026, will make the final decision on who leads a department that has seen three chiefs in less than two years. Harder confirmed on May 1 that no timeline has been set and that the mayor’s decision will be informed by input from council, staff, and the community.
[1] Glynn County, GA – Official Website
[2] New Glynn police chief’s past lawsuits linger – The Current
