Four candidates have already expressed interest in the post, the acting city manager said
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Coatesville Police Chief Julius M. Canale ended his day-to-day contract yesterday.
Ending weeks of speculation about when he would end his 24-year Coatesville police career, Chief Julius M. Canale terminated his day-to-day contract with the city yesterday at 5 p.m.
Canale, who accepted an early-retirement package the city offered in May, had been working under a day-to-day agreement for 30 percent of his former salary, collecting the other 70 percent from his pension. He could not be reached for comment.
Acting City Manager Kirby Hudson said officials were not surprised by the news. “We all knew it was coming at some point; we just didn’t know when,” said Hudson, adding that Canale never signed the month-to-month contract he was offered to help with the transition to new leadership.
Hudson said Canale handed him a short letter yesterday, explaining his intentions and his desire to spend more time with his family. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve the citizens and the City of Coatesville for 24 years in the prestigious position of police officer,” the letter said, adding that Canale wished “the City of Coatesville good fortune in its future.”
During the search for a chief, the department’s next-highest-ranking officer, Lt. James Audette, will be in charge, Hudson said. Audette has been the face of the department for months at City Council meetings, where he has filled in for Canale.
Hudson said four candidates had already expressed interest in the position. The only name Hudson would confirm was that of former District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll, who made his intentions known at a public meeting.
Carroll, a longtime Coatesville advocate, offered to help with the city’s budget woes and law-enforcement issues by serving as interim city manager and public safety director for less than the six-figure salary of Gary Rawlings, the recently terminated city manager.
Other names that have been mentioned unofficially for the chief’s position include former Coatesville Police Chief Dominic P. Bellizzie, now heading the Solebury Township police force; South Coatesville Police Chief Lew Wilson; and Coatesville Police Officer Rodger Ollis.
Hudson said interviews would be set up for each of the four with Council. He said it would be up to Council to determine whether the search would be widened. “Logically, if someone fits the bill, we might not need to go further,” he said, adding that the goal is to provide the best leadership “as soon as possible.”
The city’s Police Department has experienced a series of legal challenges in the past year. They range from two separate lawsuits filed by officers alleging discrimination to a sex scandal that began with an affair between a high-ranking officer and a subordinate that escalated evidence-tampering allegations now being investigated by the state Attorney General’s Office.
