Trustees to begin steps in choosing police chief

Eight candidates are competing for the job.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Trustees will begin the process of selecting a new police chief this month.
Eight candidates are vying for the $65,749-a-year job. They are all from within the Austintown department, and include:
USgt. Jordan Yacovone
UDetective Lt. Robert Schaeffer
ULt. Mark Durkin
USgt. Ron DeAmicis
UDetective Sgt. John Myers
USgt. Bill Hoelzel
ULt. Emil Grahovac
ULt. Robert Gavalier
A three-member panel will meet Nov. 16 to interview the eight candidates, township administrator Michael Dockry said. That panel will include Boardman Township Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson, assistant county Prosecutor Kenneth Cardinal and former Youngstown State University criminal justice professor James Conser, Dockry said.
Dockry said the trustees will have a special, closed meeting Nov. 18 to interview the applicants. Trustees will then select two to four candidates from the eight for final interviews, and a decision should come in December, Dockry said.
Interim chiefs
The township has had an interim chief, Lt. Bryan Kloss, since June. Previous chief Gordon Ellis left the department then to become police chief in Franklin, Ohio.
Kloss said he is not interested in seeking the job permanently because of a residency issue. He lives in Canfield and does not want to move to Austintown.
Applicant Durkin was interim police chief for about a year while Ellis was in Kosovo with the Ohio Army National Guard.
He went on sick leave in March, and recently returned to work. Trustees had been waiting until it was OK with Durkin's doctor for him to return before they proceeded with selecting a new chief. They wanted to give him a chance to compete, Trustee David Ditzler has said.