By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – Howard’s director of public safety is a finalist for Ashwaubenon’s vacant public safety chief position.
After Ashwaubenon’s Police and Fire Commission conducted interviews last week, Village Manager Allison Swanson said the commission narrowed its selection to two candidates: Ed Janke, the Village of Howard’s director of public safety; and Brian Uhl, the Village of Oregon’s police chief, south of Madison in Dane County.
“Our hope is to have the final candidate recommendation completed and an offer made by the end of January,” Swanson said.
The commission is authorized to select the public safety chief without village board approval.
Swanson said the village board scheduled a special meeting Tuesday, Jan. 14, to meet in closed session and interview the two candidates.
“The (Police and Fire Commission) has already ranked the candidates and is looking for input from the village board before moving forward,” Swanson said.
She said the commission scheduled a closed session for Thursday, Jan. 16, to make a decision on the chief’s position.
The Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department has been without a chief since Eric Dunning retired June 21 after 25 years of service and 12 as the chief.
Following Dunning’s retirement, Randy Tews became the interim chief of fire operations and Tom Rolling became the interim chief of police operations.
Finalist backgrounds
Janke is in his second stint as Howard’s public safety director, which he left in 2016 to become the chief deputy of the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department.
After making an unsuccessful bid for Oconto County sheriff in 2018, Janke took over as Howard’s public safety director last February upon Don Phillips retiring.
Uhl has been the Village of Oregon’s police chief since August 2015 and previously worked for eight years with the Whitewater Police Department, where he was a captain.