Newton township hires new police chief

NEWTON TOWNSHIP — The township has a new chief ready to take the keys to the Police Department once Chief Frank Tomaino leaves.

Newton Township trustees unanimously voted to hire Newton Falls officer Tommy Thompson to the part-time chief job.

Thompson, who filled in as chief previously, was selected over Capt. Earl Quinn who took a 65-day leave of absence after the interviews.

"He (Thompson) was a straight-forward kind of guy. He had a lot of experience and he’s local," Trustee Chairman Peter Augusta said Monday. "He’ll be well-respected by the community."

According to Clerk Ella Johnson, Thompson will earn about $7,800 a year. Tomaino leaves Thursday to take a full-time job with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Trustees made the decision during a special meeting Friday.

Trustee John Nemet said he felt all of the applicants were highly qualified.

"It was an extremely tough decision," Nemet said Monday.

Trustee Mark Spletzer said the biggest draw to Thompson was his experience in Newton Falls. Spletzer said Thompson’s father had served as chief in the city for many years.

Augusta said Thompson had came up with good ideas for the police to reach out to the community. Thompson suggested the police make regular checks on the elderly and dedicate one day a week in which the public can go to the station and file a police report.

Thompson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Tomaino, who said he wasn’t involved in the selection process, said he would be meeting with Thompson this week to show him around the department and acclimate him to the township’s reporting system. He said he was enjoying his full-time work as a park ranger, but he still wishes the part-time department had more funding while he was chief. The department has about $80,000 from a general fund subsidy and two 1-mill levies.

"The job would have been a whole lot different had they tried to maintain the funding. They just didn’t have it and I got tired of asking the people to pass a levy," Tomaino said.

Quinn said his decision to take a leave came in part because of the trustees’ decision, though it wasn’t a case of sour grapes. He said his cleaning business had a couple new contracts, and he was tending to some family medical problems. He said if he had been offered the position, he would have passed on the contract work to some other employees.