Onalaska will look to hire police chief internally, before opening up to full search

Within days of each other in February, the city of Onalaska found out it would be losing both its fire and police chiefs.

In searching for replacements, the city’s police and fire commission will fill the police chief position first, since fire chief Don Dominik is staying on until June. Right now, Troy Miller is the acting police chief.

“Based on support, I think from officers within the department, decided to do a internal first,” City Administrator Eric Rindfleisch said. “(The department is giving) Troy Miller an opportunity to apply and review if he is a good candidate for the position or not, before fully opening it up to a full search.”

No word on whether the city also look to hire internally for its fire chief, as well.

The commission also recently changed job description language, making the fire chief the sole emergency director, instead of sharing the role with the police chief

The abrupt resignation of Onalaska’s police chief was reportedly motivated by a ‘desire to pursue other career opportunities,” according to the city administrator back in February.

The short statement from Rindfleisch thanked Jeff Trotnic for his years of service. He was on the force since 2008.

His resignation came days after a city council candidate — Greg Luce, who did not beat Kim Smith in last week’s election — apparently emailed current city council members claiming misconduct by Trotnic over an alleged extramarital affair.