The need for a police commissioner in the City of Newburgh Police Department came into question at the May 28 Newburgh City Council meeting as council members debated whether or not to fill the newly-vacated position.

Over the course of the past month, the police department has seen several changes in its leadership. The discussion on Monday night followed the recent resignation of former Police Commissioner José A. Gomérez. He officially announced his resignation on May 21 after 2½ years of service to the city; his resignation will be effective on Friday, June 7.

Lieutenant Brandon Rola, a 16-year veteran of the NPD was appointed as the new chief on Friday, May 3. Former City Police Chief Anthony Geraci was appointed on April 26 as Director of Safety and Security for the Newburgh Enlarged City School District.

At the council meeting on May 28, Councilman Robert McLymore asked about the need for the police commissioner position within the city police department and wanted to discuss the item at the next work session. McLymore actively serves in the Town of Wallkill Police Department.

"In my 24 years of experience, I have not had a commissioner and I think that we have hired a capable, professional, proficient chief,” said McLymore.

Mayor Torrance Harvey disagreed.

“It took me personally working with the former city manager and our civil service commission to create a police commissioner position,” said Harvey. “We did not have enough diversity in our rank and file in terms of our departments, we did not have enough Black and Hispanic people which make up the majority of this city, in our employment ranks, particularly in leadership roles and that included police and that also included fire.”

“The idea of re-implementing the police commissioner role was so that the city manager could recruit someone of diverse background because every police chief in the last 50 years was a White American police chiefs,” Harvey continued.

Other reasons that Harvey spoke about that delayed the implementation of the commissioner position into were the police community relations at the time and a pending civil rights lawsuit, which he did not go into much detail about with the council.

The Police Commissioner position was posted on May 24 on the City of Newburgh website and is set to close on June 30 by 11:59 p.m. A brief overview of the position lists it as a Full-Time Civilian Administrative and Supervisory Position with a salary range of $163,388 to $180,000.