The City of Morganton and Morganton Public Safety are proud to announce Assistant Chief Ryan Lander as Interim Public Safety Chief.
He was selected in lieu of Chief Jason Whisnant’s retirement to occur on April 1, 2025.
Lander served as Interim Chief after the retirement of former Chief Tony Lowdermilk in 2022 until Whisnant was selected. Lander has worked for Morganton Public Safety since 2002 and was initially hired as a PSO Trainee. He has since worked in Special Operations, Criminal Investigations, Field Operations in a variety of ranks. He is currently the Assistant Chief of Police Services and Fire Protection.
Lander will be sworn-in on March 31st by City Clerk Renee Carswell.
City Manager Sally Sandy said, “We are happy for Chief Whisnant in his retirement and wish him all the best. It is not every day that you have an employee that serves in the position of public safety officer all the way up to Public Safety Chief. We appreciate all his sacrifice and dedication to the City of Morganton. We are also thrilled about working again with Assistant Chief Lander as interim chief. I feel that he will continue leading Public Safety in keeping our community a safe place to live, work and play.”
Assistant Chief Lander said, “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve in this position again and look forward to continuing to provide the high-level of service to our community.”
