Trustees appoint chief of police

Lt. Robert Gavalier is a lifelong township resident and was an FOP leader.
AUSTINTOWN -- Lt. Robert Gavalier has been appointed the township's new police chief, effective Monday.
Township trustees unanimously appointed Gavalier, a 24-year veteran of the force and a lifelong township resident, in a Saturday meeting in which they interviewed four finalists for the job. He was selected from among eight applicants, all supervisors on the township's police force.
Gavalier "has a lot of desire to see the community improved" and the police force improved, Trustee Chairman David Ditzler said.
He added that Gavalier has "the trust and confidence of the people he works with."
"We think that he has the respect of not only the other supervisors in the department, but also of his peers, because, at one time, he was also the FOP president," Ditzler said, referring to the Fraternal Order of Police. "His heart and soul was with Austintown and with the police department," Ditzler added.
Ditzler said he wasn't sure what Gavalier's exact salary would be, but said he thinks it will be between $60,000 and $70,000 a year.
Gavalier, a lieutenant in the patrol division and a Youngstown State University graduate, succeeds Chief Gordon Ellis, who resigned about six months ago and became police chief in Heath, Ohio. Lt. Brian Kloss served as interim chief after Ellis' departure.