APD adds full-time officer, three reserve officers

February 10, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

By ROBERT CONNELLY

AUSTINTOWN

Township trustees unanimously approved Monday the hiring of a full-time officer and three reserve officers.

Todd Schuller Jr. was promoted to a full-time officer, and Sarah Whitaker, Matthew Moore and Brent Frank were hired as reserve officers. Schuller is a Marine Corps veteran and served in Afghanistan, said police Chief Robert Gavalier.

He added that Schuller’s hiring meets the requirement of having a veteran as an officer, and Schuller’s hire comes from a grant near the end of 2014 that provided funding for hiring three officers. He is the second of three hires through the Community Oriented Policing Services grant worth $250,000.

“I grew up in this community. It’s personal for me to come back and serve,” Schuller said Monday.

Whitaker and Frank are both senior airmen with the Air Force Reserve in Vienna and are veterans.

Trustee Jim Davis recalled approaching Gavalier about restarting the reserve officer program a number of years ago. “We keep hiring reserves, and within a year or two, they’re full-time,” Gavalier said of the reserve program. Davis explained the reserve officers work 32 hours a month plus training, and once a full-time position becomes open, they are considered for that.

Trustees unanimously approved the demolition of 1290 Woodhurst Drive, a home and attached garage that was deemed unsafe by Austintown fire officials.