LOUDONVILLE — Mayor Cathy Lance announced Loudonville’s fire chief and police chief would be stepping down from their positions at the Monday council meeting.
Police Chief Brian McCauley has served as chief for two and a half years, but his tenure at the Loudonville Police Department lasted for eight years.
“When you do this job, you miss out on a lot of family time: birthdays, going here and going there,” he said. “I’m tired, I’m ready to do that: I’m ready to spend more time with my family.”
His retirement marks the end of his 33-year-long career in law enforcement, which has spanned positions at the Perrysville Police Department, Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, Adult Corrections and Juvenile Corrections.
“I wanted to be here. This is where I was born and raised, so it was nice coming back here to work for Chief Taylor, and it was fantastic,” he said.
He said the greatest strength of the department is the people.
“I couldn’t ask for better people for a small department. Since I’ve been here, [we’ve had] the least amount of complaints on officers. Why? Because they’re town-oriented, as in they like the small communities. They want to be here,” he said.
The greatest weakness of the department is financial struggles, he said, but it has navigated those in creative ways, and will continue to do so without him.
Council approved Capt. Sean Gorrell to fill the position after McCauley officially retires on April 1.
Gorrell has worked at the department since 2015, and was promoted to captain in September 2023.
“The department runs well and I believe on his last day and my first day, the department will run the same. I agree with him of all the strengths of the department,” Gorrell said.
Gorrell said he has not yet made any decisions about who will be promoted to captain, but the village will eventually hire a beginner-level police officer to fill the vacancy and maintain the seven full-time staff roster.
Gorrell will be sworn in at the April 6 council meeting, along with new interim fire chief Josh Buzzard, who will take over for Brad Dilgard.
Dilgard has been interim chief since Aug. 31 when former Chief Dan Robinson announced his resignation.
Dilgard was clear from the beginning he only planned to be chief until someone else could step into the part-time position. He will remain a captain at the department.
Buzzard was not immediately available for comment at the time of publication.