Perrysburg Township Police Chief Mark Hetrick, far right, is retiring. (Sentinel-Tribune file)
By Debbie Rogers
LIME CITY — The longtime Perrysburg police chief who was retired and rehired, has officially retired.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the trustees accepted Mark Hetrick’s retirement resignation, which was effective on Monday.
In a letter to the trustees, Hetrick said he was retiring for the final time and leaving the department in good hands. Hetrick was not at the meeting.
After the meeting, Trustees Joe Schaller and Bob Mack said the retirement was little sudden, but had been on the horizon.
Matt Gazerek was appointed acting chief.
The trustees authorized Administrator Jon Eckel to initiate a search to fill the position on a permanent basis.
Both Schaller and Mack said that they expect to hire a new chief from within the department. Eckel echoed that.
“We want to give Chief Gazarek a chance to settle in … and see how the department does,” Eckel said.
They expect to have a new chief in place by the end of the year.
There are 27 officers on the township force.
Hetrick, a longtime officer and detective in Perrysburg Township, succeeded chief Ed Stribrny in February 2018.
He was graduate from high school in Port Clinton and attended Owens Community College, earning an associate’s degree in law enforcement. He interned with the Perrysburg Township police department as part of the program, according to a February 2018 Sentinel-Tribune article.
However, after graduating, he was still too young to join the force – Ohioans had to be 21 to be a police officer at the time. So, in 1983 Hetrick joined the U.S. Army and became a military policeman.
Beginning as a patrolman, Hetrick also worked a little as a dispatcher, and was promoted to patrol sergeant in 2002, then to detective sergeant in 2008 before his appointment to chief.
Hetrick initially retired due to changes in the State of Ohio’s employee retirement system. Hetrick was hired back at $56,000 per year – the salary of a rookie patrolman. Previously, he had been earning approximately $81,000 per year.
(This story has been corrected to say that Eckle is the township administrator.)
