The Clarkston City Council has set a timetable to hire a new police chief.
At its Feb. 24 meeting, the council agreed to extend the term of Interim Police Chief Ernest Combs for an additional 90 days, and set the end of the 90-day period, at the end of May, as the deadline date for hiring a permanent police chief. The council unanimously approved the motion 6-0. Mayor Sharron Catallo was absent from the meeting.
Combs was appointed as interim chief for a 60-day period at the beginning of the year after former chief Paul Ormiston retired. He has expressed interest in becoming chief on a permanent basis.
According to Meyland, the council is still putting together a list of job specifications for the chief’s position. “We still owe it to the community to advertise and interview various candidates for the position, as well as put together a list of requirements,” he said. “We have a very good person in place right now.”
Although Councilman Walt Gamble initially expressed hesitation about setting the 90-day deadline, Meyland believed setting the deadline would push the council toward getting the job search started in earnest.
“I think that’s a reasonable target,” Meyland said.
· In other news, the council rescheduled its Monday, March 10 meeting for Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. It also approved a resolution drafted by the Clinton River Watershed Council which amended the definition of U.S. waters subject to the Clean Water Act to include all non-navigable tributaries, intermittent and ephemeral streams, waters that pass through man-made conveyances, and all wetlands whether or not there is a visible connection to surface waters.