The Saratoga Springs City Council used their special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 29, to take care of some last minute business and to acknowledge the recent promotions within the police and fire departments.
Outgoing Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim said the retirement of the police and fire chiefs allowed for several jobs to be saved.
There were two processes to try to save some jobs. One was a comprehensive reorganization which wasn’t something the council wanted to go with. So the only way to save additional jobs and some savings of money was essentially to do some promotions through the department, said Kim.
Promotions in the police department are: Chris Cole was appointed police chief to replace Edward Moore, who retired; Capt. Michael Biss was promoted to assistant chief; Lt. Michael Chowski was promoted to captain; Investigator Tim Sicko was promoted to sergeant.
The department shuffle, along with an additional retirement, allowed for two of the seven potential layoffs to be saved and one officer took a job with the Rensselaer Police Department. All jobs saved were lower-level jobs that were otherwise set to be eliminated under the 2010 city budget.
The fire department wasn’t so lucky, only being able to save one potential layoff. The promotions in this department were: Robert Williams was appointed as fire chief after Robert Cogan retired; Lt. Tom Knight was promoted to captain; firefighter Bob Murphy was promoted to lieutenant.
“