No Decision on Chester Chief Replacement

With the police chief set to retire in less than two weeks, the Chester Borough Mayor and Council have decided to appoint an officer in charge to run the police department until a new chief is named.

But the decision on who that officer will be has yet to be made.

That appointment, which will be made by Mayor Bob Davis and Administrator Valerie Egan, is expected to come sooner rather than later.

“Valerie was out, so we haven’t come to a conclusion as to who it should be,” Davis said. “We want to make sure we are on the same page before we take action.”

Having an officer in charge is just a stop-gap move until a new chief is named and councilwoman Janet Hoven, who serves on the public safety committee, laid out that timetable. 

After the appointment of the officer in charge, Hoven said the next step in the selection of a chief would be to get previous employment files of the two candidates. Following that, there will be interviews and written questions.

“At some point, hopefully by July 16, there will be oral interviews with the personnel committee,” said Hoven. “There will be essay questions that would be administered by the administrator by July 23.”

The next step would be getting feedback from other police chiefs.

“We’ve spoken with the chief about having some county chiefs come in and come up with their own questions, do a Q&A with them, and give us their feedback,” Hoven said, adding that this step would be done by Aug. 7.

“If all goes as scheduled, we could select a new chief by Aug. 20,” Hoven said. The Mayor and Council is scheduled to have a regular meeting that day.

Police Chief Andre Kedrowitsch is set to retire as of July 1.

The mayor and council, in keeping with its decision to keep its options open, had prepared an ordinance amendment that would add the position of police director, a civilian that would help train a new chief or officer in charge.

But the presence of several area police chiefs and some new information prompted the Mayor and Council to table that change at their May 21 meeting.

The council had decided to hire a new full-time, entry-level police officer to replace the chief. Hoven said that there will be another round of interviews for this position, since the top three candidates originally chosen have been thrown out.

The interviews will take place on June 26.