(Posted Dec. 2, 2015)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
London’s new police chief could be named by mid-December, according to Steve Hume, London’s safety-service director.
Hume and Joe Mosier, who will become safety-service director in January with the change in administration, are working together to select a replacement for outgoing chief David Wiseman.
Five individuals applied for the job and passed the assessment center, a competitive test administered by the Ohio Chiefs of Police Association. Hume and Mosier conducted first interviews with the five candidates the weeks of Nov. 16 and Nov. 23. They must decide if they want to make their selections now or bring back candidates for second interviews.
The five candidates are: John DeJar-nette, retired as a lieutenant, Dublin Police Department; William Karolyi, sergeant and assistant to the chief, Butler Township (Montgomery County); Glenn Nicol, retired as deputy chief, Marysville Police Depart-ment; Scott Reinbolt, chief, Blanchester Police Department; and Ross Tipton, sergeant, London Police Department.
Once Hume and Mosier make their selection, they will make a conditional offer of employment to that individual, which allows the city to conduct a thorough background check, drug test, and psychology evaluation.
Hume said the city plans to offer Wise-man a temporary consultant’s position to help the new chief make the transition.
2016 budget
Council will hold a public hearing on the city’s proposed budget for 2016 at its next meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3.
As the proposal stands, the general fund portion of the budget is showing an estimated deficit of $337,000. The deficit in 2015 was $260,000.
About the projected deficit, councilman Trint Hatt said, “It’s not something that I could quite stomach.”
He then suggested making a 2 percent cut across all departments to potentially lower the projected deficit to $250,000.
“This puts us, I believe, on the right path to services we need but also protecting taxpayers’ money,” Hatt said.
Katie Hensel, outgoing city auditor, warned council to be cautious about blan-ket reductions, noting that some depart-ments and lines in the general budget cannot be cut. Two examples: debt service and pensions. This means, that to reach the goal of a $250,000 general fund deficit, the other departments would require cuts deeper than 2 percent, she said.
