The top two administrators of the Butler City Police Department have been placed on paid administrative leave.
“I think I’ve given all the information that I can give other than to say (this is being done) for the health of the department at the moment,” Butler Mayor Ben Smith said Thursday when asked why the move was done.
The most senior member of the force, Captain James Hollobaugh, will take over as the top police administrator for the time being.
The mayor says no long-term plans are in place yet.
“That’s not a succession plan,” Smith said. “That’s not anything other than just simply the logistics of making sure that things continue to operate smoothly over however many days.”
The mayor and Butler City Council took no other action regarding the city police department at Thursday’s council meeting.
The shakeup in the city police department stems from a no-confidence vote taken last month by the police union against Chief Ron Brown and Deputy Chief Dave Adam. Both men did not attend Thursday’s council meeting, which they normally do.
President of the Butler Fraternal Order of Police Lt. Chad Rensel said the membership unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in June against the department’s chief and deputy chief because “circumstances left them with no other recourse.”
In a press release, Rensel said the issues that caused the FOP to take action were a lack of leadership and poor decision making; a lack of strategy in addressing the current criminal activity in the city; and a lack of cooperation with the media
Rensel declined to comment further. The FOP represents the 21 rank-and-file officers of the Butler City Police Department.
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