BANGOR, Maine — Ron Gastia won’t be retiring as Bangor’s police chief until the end of September, but the city already has someone lined up to serve as his interim replacement until a permanent chief is named.
Deputy Chief Peter Arno, a 25-year veteran member of the Bangor Police Department, was unanimously approved by the Bangor City Council as the department’s interim chief Monday night.
“Peter’s the deputy chief, so he was the logical person to step in,” said Cathy Conlow, Bangor’s city manager. “He’s agreed to serve as interim chief through March, which buys me a little bit of time to get through the fall and holiday season to get the ad done and conduct a thorough search.
“Hopefully, we will have a permanent replacement named by the first of the year,” she said.
Gastia is retiring at the end of September after a 30-year career with the Bangor Police Department.
Arno, who was promoted to lieutenant to replace Bob Welch back in the fall of 1998, took over the deputy chief’s position in 2002. He applied for the position of Bangor police chief in 2007, but elected to withdraw his name as a candidate shortly afterward.
“My experience with Peter is he’s very thoughtful and does a good job of balancing the needs of the community with his managerial duties and serving as a liaison with city officials,” Conlow said.
Arno, who has served as a field office supervisor in the Bangor office of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, has extensive investigative experience. He also worked under the federal drug task force with Gastia in the early 1990s.
“He’s seen it all and done it all,” said Conlow. “With that job, you have to be hands-on, delegate, be mindful of politics and be managerial as well. Being the police chief is a hard job.”
Conlow said she and city staff members are closing in on naming a new fire chief within the next month or so.
“I’d like to get the fire chief done soon. We have candidates and just finished up the second part of the process,” Conlow explained. “We have seven remaining candidates and would like to thin that to four or five semifinalists.”
Semifinalists will be scheduled for interviews over the next few weeks.
“We’d like to have someone named as the new chief by late September,” Conlow said.
The fire chief’s position has been vacant since Jeff Cammack retired in late February after 32 years as a firefighter, the last 15 as chief.
Peter Arno is the best man for the job. I worked with him in the past, I respect him greatly and I am sure the citizens of Bangor will be grateful he has been appointed, a true professional who will not comprise his position in the trials of doing the job. Congratulations Peter!
Peter Arno is a wonderful guy and would make a perfect chief. He would make the PD and the city of Bangor very proud.
Why not make Peter Arno the regular Police chief and save the taxpayers thousands, trying to find one from who knows where. Promote from within but wait, that make sense.
if you always promote from within your organization can become stagnant. sometimes it is good to bring in fresh blood and a new perspective
Chances are they will, but I bet there’s a legal requirement that they post the job externally, which means they have to call him “interim” in the meantime.
Because he is retiring next year. It just has not been announced yet. He will not take the job as he is getting older too
Good man and family Give him the job if he wants. Bangor PD needs a leader Deputy Chief Arno is the MAN for that job.
They don’t make them any better then Peter Arno. Mr. Arno is a total class act. For the short time he is going to be interim, he will establish a united police force with much better controls. The citizens of Bangor have no clue what this appointment means to our city. I am sure if Mr. Arno wanted the job full time it would be his. By reading the article, it appears he is just going to be doing the city a favor while they find the permanant. I’m sure if he wanted the position he could have it. Anybody or any organization would be completely foolish not to hire him if they have the chance.
Ron Gastia looks pretty darned young to be retiring to me.
He sure does.. because he takes care of himself, stays fit, excercises weekly, runs and has a very good balance of work and family… He not your classic overweight Chief who couldnt get out of there way because they sit behind a desk and are complacent.. Many are just going coasting because their retirment is so close..
Nice try. He’s too young to be retiring on the taxpayer dime. Period.
“He’s seen it all and done it all,” said Conlow. “With that job, you have to be hands-on, delegate, be mindful of politics and be managerial as well. Being the police chief is a hard job.”
Imagine how much more effective he could be in that role if he didn’t need to be “mindful of politics”…..
Mr. Arno is will also be retiring next year…
You know what is kind of funny about this article, they did not mention at all, how much he is getting paid for doing it. Did not want anyone to find out, watch city council meeting on tv you would shock yourself
Why not just promote Peter Arno to the position period?
He’s not wanted it in the past, and does not now. Smart guy.
Maybe Peter Arno will actually get the cars to slow down between the I-95 and PCHC traffic.
Congrats to Pete. Best man to take over a great police force. Retirement pending or not.
” “With that job, you have to be hands-on, delegate, be mindful of politics and be managerial as well”
Since when did public service, keeping our town safe have anything at all to do with politics? This boils my blood blue because Politics has too much to do with everything now a days. That’s exactly the reason why nothing is ever done right, because it all has to do with politics!
Pete Arno is an extremely professional police officer and has served the citizens of Bangor well. He will provide excellent leadership for the PD and if he wants the job fulltime, he would be a great selection.