Courtesy photo/left. NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick. Guy Grasso is out as police chief in Oak Hill due to injury. Acting Police Chief Diane Young will continue running the police department until a permanent chief is hired, the Oak Hill City Commission determined Monday.
OAK HILL -- With Guy Grasso unable to get medical clearance to come back to his post as chief of police, the Oak Hill City Commission has decided to continue with Acting Chief Diane Young until a permanent hire is made.
That was the unanimous consensus of the commission Monday while a plan of action is developed to go about hiring a permanent police chief.
City officials had hoped to avoid the situation altogether, had Grasso been able to return by Jan. 25, following 12 weeks of family medical leave. But without a doctor's clearance, Grasso was unable to return from a back injury suffered in a car accident while on duty, in which he was rear-ended. Per city charter, he was let go, with the lapse in time.
Grasso, who did not attend Monday's meeting, was disappointed the commission did not give him more time, but was positive about his tenure. "I enjoyed the challenge," Grasso, chief for more than three years, said Tuesday night from his home in Port Orange. "I brought up the morale of the police department during my time there. It showed with our clearance rates and responses to crimes, I enjoyed the challenge."
Grasso, 45, was struck from behind in his police cruiser while turning into City Hall last August by a driver and suffered injuries to his back and neck as a result. Young had been at the helm for nearly three months after then-Sgt. Robert Walker abruptly walked into a City Commission meeting and resigned.
Young was selected last month as acting chief over several other outside candidates, despite an admission on her job application several years earlier that she had used cocaine at least 100 times more than 20 years ago. That information had been leaked to the press and the council backed Young, regardless, saying she had been a stellar police officer and an able leader.
Commissioner Bill Marcello urged his colleagues to continue with Acting Chief Young as leader of police force that has five full-time officers and one part-time officer, and the consensus was unanimous among Commissioners Kathy Bittle, Linda Hyatt, Mary Lee Cook and Mayor Darla Lauer.
Mayor Lauer emphasized she wants the commission to decide soon on parameters for a permanent replacement, adding, "The Police Department has been in upheaval since August. I want this to be settled and move the city forward."
Cook, the vice mayor agreed: "We don't want to give another chief the problems we have got."