Letter to the editor: Mantua council made right choice to fire police chief

I think that the Village of Mantua Mayor and Council made the correct decision regarding ex-Police Chief Joe Urso. The following are some of the reasons I agree with the five council members who voted to terminate Chief Urso:

1. The citizens of Mantua voted to increase their taxes by one half of one percent about 3 or four years ago in order to finance extra officers for 24/7 police service in the village. No full time officers have been hired. Instead, Chief Urso and Officer Brothers amassed large amounts of overtime during the last few years.

2. When the Hiram police chief came in to support the cillage during their search for a new police chief he found that none of the officers had their firearm certifications up to date.

3.  Chief Urso never recommended an acceptable school resource officer for Crestwood and kept pushing for Officer Brothers to be hired. When the Hiram police chief was reviewing resumes, he found several that had not been forwarded to Crestwood for consideration. One of them was immediately accepted by the school district.

4. Dating a subordinate (direct report) is unethical. I worked for the Department of Defense for 31 years and that was hammered in during annual sexual harassment training. A supervisor having a relationship with an employee is simply wrong and should not be tolerated.

I think that the above points make it clear that Chief Urso, though friendly, personable and well-liked by the community, was the wrong person to manage the police force.

— Toomas Tubalkain, Village of Mantua