Jennings chosen as Chocolay police chief
MARQUETTE — Sgt. Scott Jennings, a long-time officer with the Chocolay Township Police Department, was chosen Wednesday to serve as the department’s new police chief.
The Chocolay Township Board unanimously approved the selection of Jennings, who has served with the department for 30 years and is presently second in command at the department behind current Chief Greg Zyburt, who will transition in January to his new position as Marquette County sheriff.
The Marquette County Law Enforcement Administrator’s Association named Jennings Police Officer of the Year in 2011, following his efforts related to a robbery that took place in October 2011 at the Northern Michigan Bank & Trust branch in Harvey.
Jennings was the first officer on scene and helped coordinate the investigation that resulted in the arrest of suspect Justin Dee McLean in the state of Wyoming less than a week later.
Jennings, a Petoskey native, said he wants to maintain and improve upon the level of service Zyburt, a long-time co-worker, provided to residents.
“We’ve been together for 30 years — basically … grew up together doing this job,” Jennings said of Zyburt. “It’s been a learning experience, and we’ve been supportive of each other along the way and intend to maintain that relationship between the two departments, and law enforcement in general in the Marquette community.”
In August an ad hoc committee was established to select a final police chief candidate to be recommended for board approval. The committee consisted of then Supervisor Gary Walker, Trustee Richard Bohjanen and Chocolay Township Manager Steve Lawry.
Four initial applicants responded to the job posting, and three were interviewed Nov. 29 by the committee, according to a memo from Lawry to board members.
The committee found the three interviewees to be “very qualified and impressive candidates, each with expertise in different areas of police work and each of whom could be expected to perform admirably in the position,” Lawry wrote in his memo, but the committee was most impressed with Jennings’ answers.
“He is a budget-conscious individual who has played a major role in implementing much of the technology that keeps Chocolay at the forefront of changes in law enforcement,” Lawry wrote.
Starting pay for the police chief position is $57,877, according to township documents.
The board at its Nov. 2 meeting approved changes to the police chief job description after it was determined experienced members of the department and others in the Upper Peninsula would have been unable to seek the position, township documents state.
Part of those changes included minimum education qualifications, which were altered to allow a candidate to possess an equivalent of at least five years full-time police officer experience, rather than solely college coursework in criminal justice, public administration or other related fields.
“It was learned that while college coursework and degrees are fairly common among younger officers, these remain far less common among those experienced in police command positions,” Lawry wrote in an Oct. 10 memo to the township’s personnel committee.
Among other revisions, preferred experience was also changed to include five to 10 years police supervisory or command experience, rather than experience as police chief at another department.
Zyburt’s resignation will be effective Dec. 31. He will assume his position as sheriff in January.
“I have enjoyed a long and happy 31 years in the Township, and during that time I have become well-trained and well-educated on various aspects of law enforcement,” Zyburt wrote in his resignation letter. “Working with the board and the citizens has taught me many lessons about people, police work and community relationships.”