Tuesday evening, the Shawano Police and Fire Chief officially accepted Shawano Chief of Police Mark Kohl’s retirement, while announcing a new interim chief.
Shawano Lieutenant Dan Mauel was approved by the commission and will take over as interim police chief, effective April 3. Before approving Lieutenant Mauel as interim chief, the commission went into closed session for nearly two hours on Tuesday.
Shawano Police and Fire Commission President, Tony Zielinski said the commission in confident that Lieutenant Mauel will be able to capably serve as chief without the department missing a beat.
“Dan Mauel, who is currently responsible for many of the direct connect with the chief, is responsible to make sure that all of the duties continue with no disruption, and the ability to be involved and manage the rest of the department heads,” Zielinski said after the police and fire commission meeting Tuesday. “We will be observing his interaction with the department and we will be preparing a process to interview internally for Mark [Kohl’s] replacement sometime in the future.”
Mauel got his start with the Shawano Police Department in the fall of 1980. He was hired with the Green Bay Police Department in 1985, but would later return to serve in Shawano in 1990. Mauel has since served as lieutenant in the department since 2002, and explains he’s grateful for his new opportunity.
“I would like to thank the police and fire commission for having the confidence in me to lead the department during their search for our next police chief,” said Mauel.
With the search for a new police chief only beginning, Zielinski says the police and fire commission will explore all options while looking for a new chief.
“The police and fire commission can either make an appointment, or we can go through an interviewing process,” Zielinksi explained. “Typically, what would happen is we would open up the process internal, and most likely externally, and we would interview the candidates and we would make a selection for the chief’s position.
No exact timeframe has been set, but Zielinski says the commission hopes to have a new chief named within the next three months.
“Over the next 30 days is when we’re going to be setting up that process and discussing the timeline, but I would certainly hope within the next 90 days [a new chief would be named].
Police Chief Mark Kohl announced his retirement as chief in a letter to the city of Shawano on Jan. 26. He’s served as Shawano’s Police Chief from 2001 to 2002, and again since 2014.