BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont City Council voted Tuesday evening to unanimously approve the city manager's recommendation to promote Beaumont Police Captain Tim Ocnaschek to become the city's next police chief.
After nearly three hours of deliberation and public comments from community members the City Council voted unanimously to appoint Captain Ocnaschek to replace Chief Jimmy Singletary.
On Friday, City Manager Kenneth Williams recommended the hire of Captain Ocnaschek.
Williams said Ocnaschek was the right person for the job. He highlighting his integrity, experience and willingness to work with the community.
There were two dozen public comments made to the council prior to the vote. Some were in favor of Ocnaschek's appointment, while others focused on the council's decision to deny Williams' first pick earlier this month.
Some were upset that the city used tax dollars to hire a firm to find candidates and then rejected their recommendation. There were also some voices of support for Ocnaschek, including soon to be retired Chief Singletary.
The council discussed the decision for about 20 minutes before making their vote.
After the vote, Chief Ocnaschek addressed the council and the crowd.
"I pledge my dedication to making this community a safer place. As you know we've had the grand opening of the Real-Time Crime Center. And this department has spent years developing and training people for carrying equipment and technology, expanding to accomodate the cutting edge technology to fight crime," he said.
Ocnaschek went on to thank the mayor, the city manager and council members for supporting his appointment.
Ocnaschek has spent the last eight years of his 38-year career in law enforcement as part of the Beaumont Police Department's top command staff, according to a recent news release from the city.
He's currently the administrative division commander for the police department and also spent 17 years as the city's emergency management coordinator, according to the news release.
Ocnaschek, who holds a masters degree in public administration from Midwestern State and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Lamar University, also served in the Air Force where he managed security forces for many facilities including Randolph Air Force Base.
Ocnaschek will become police chief on Thursday, replacing longtime chief Jimmy Singletary.
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Previously four of seven members voted against City Manager Kenneth Williams' recommendation of Troy Price for Beaumont's new chief.
Price, who is the deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department in Washington state, had been chosen over three other finalists from among more than 50 applications received for the job.
After listening to the community's concerns Williams told 12News the long process has yielded the best candidate for the city.
"Even though we used a search firm, we think it was appropriate because in the end we ended up with the candidate we need for Beaumont," Williams said.