OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Holiday decor festively decorates Fredonia Village Hall as they, as well as other municipalities wind things down for the year.

Fredonia appears set to appoint a temporary police chief soon after Bradley Meyers retires on Jan. 3, 2020.

The village Board of Trustees debated what it will do with the top cop spot Monday. The trustees agreed with Meyers, who stated the board should hire a new full-time police officer upon his departure, then fill the police chief slot with a temporary hire from within the department.

Meyers said only four people in the department would qualify to be the temporary police chief — and two have submitted letters of interest already.

“As of right now, you wouldn’t be spending any extra money,” the retiring chief stressed. “You’d be filling my vacancy if you hired full-time.”

Mayor Athanasia Landis noted the board could hire a provisional police chief, which she described as a regular, full-time, permanent hire ultimately dependent on passing a civil service exam. Meyers said he was hired provisionally from outside the department, back in 1999 — and he cautioned against going that route.

“That’s a lot of pressure, to be hired provisionally, unless you’re going to do it from within the organization and that’s the person you want no matter what,” he said. “But if you’re thinking about a provisional appointment of a person from outside the organization, you’re going to miss out because not a lot of people are going to give up their job in hopes of passing the (police chief civil service) test.”

Meyers added that there could be extra money in a new budget for hiring a full-time chief if the board waited until June to make the hire and agreed to use a temporary chief for now.

Trustees Kara Christina and James Lynden, who were re-elected in November, said they agreed with Meyers’ plan to hire a full-time patrol officer and promote someone already in the department to a temporary chief. Lynden said more than once during the discussion the board should make a plan for the process of filling the chief’s position immediately, because Meyers’ retirement is coming up very soon.

No one else raised any objections to Meyers’ ideas. However, the hiring of a police officer will have to wait, as the village has to “ask for the list” — the term officials at Monday’s meeting used for requesting a civil service list of people eligible to be officers, then contacting them to gauge their interest.

Trustee Douglas Essek, who will replace Landis as mayor next year, said he thought the new board should make the decision on who to hire as the temporary chief. His fellow trustees agreed. (The 2020 Fredonia village board will consist of current trustees Roger Britz, Christina and Lynden, along with new member Roger Pacos.)