The Niskayuna Town Board appointed Lieutenant John Lubrant as an interim Police Chief at its board meeting on Tuesday, July 28. Lubrant has served for the past 27 years and has risen through the ranks the Niskayuna Police Department, where he began as a patrolman in June of 1982.
I’m grateful to [Town Supervisor Joe] Landry and the board members, as well as to the officers who expressed their support to me. It’s a real privilege to lead such an excellent department, said Lubrant.
Lubrant will replace outgoing Chief of Police Louis Moskowitz, who filed his retirement with the New York State Comptroller on Tuesday, June 23. Moskowitz’s retirement will go into effect on Friday, July 31.
Lubrant was promoted to rank of detective in October of 1987, followed by a promotion to sergeant in February of 1995. In August of 1996, he was promoted to detective sergeant, and reached the rank of lieutenant in December of 2001.
`He has been an exemplary officer,` said Councilwoman Liz Orzel-Kasper. `He has offered invaluable information and he is someone who I personally can go to and ask questions and get a complete answer from.`
`He has all of the qualifications and he’s been right there with the chief so he knows the workings of the department and I feel he has the respect of the board and the officers and the community,` said Kasper.
Landry said the timing of Moskowitz’s retirement provided some difficulty in appointing a chief before his last day.
`We were told [of Moskowitz’s retirement] during our June meeting, so we had three to four weeks between his announcement and his actual date of retirement, which is not enough time to do a search and appoint a full blown chief,` said Landry.
He said that the decision was made to appoint an interim or temporary chief of police pending `the further looking and further evaluation,` but said the choice is clear.
`John Lubrant is the candidate ` he is the individual who is well respected by the force, he’s been a lieutenant for about 8 years and he is the one who Liz and I thought would make the best interim and acting chief,` said Landry.
Lubrant will receive about a $5,000 pay raise ` from $88,300 to $88,869 ` since he will be taking on a new position with added responsibilities.
`He’s getting a bump ` it’s not like he’s getting a 50 grand increase to do this,` said Landry.`He’s getting about a five-grand increase to do this.`
Louis Moskowitz was making about $93,000 at the time of his retirement, according to Landry.
The next chief of police can therefore be chosen in several ways, said Landry, as the position of police chief is a Civil Service position.
According to Landry, the board can receive of a list of qualified individuals and appoint someone to take over permanently. They can also do a search and pick someone. They can also set criteria for who they want to be a chief and wait until March when the next civil service exam is given and have that person take the exam.
`Those are the different options the board will be considering when replacing the chief,` said Landry.
`He’s going to be temporary chief of police, but he still has the ability to be in that lieutenant position,` said Landry.
According to Kasper, the search could take up to a year.
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