Deputy Chief Ceo Announces Retirement from Saline Police Department

Saline Deputy Police Chief Jack Ceo is retiring.

In a letter to City Manager Todd Campbell, Ceo announced his intention to retire on Sept. 19. 

"This is not a decision that comes easily. I wish all of you well in this uncertain future. There are significant changes on the horizon. My only regret in leaving now is that I cannnot help shape that future," Ceo wrote.

"My departure may even bring about the first of those changes, so maybe I will have helped begin the process," he wrote. "But I hear my boat calling and another life after work that I heartily look forward to."

Ceo has been deputy chief for 12 years after 26 years in the Ann Arbor Police Department, in which he worked his way up to deputy chief.

Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten, who worked with Ceo in Saline and Ann Arbor, said Ceo will be missed.

"He’s a very intelligent, accomplished police officer. He has a great head on his shoulders and thinks things through very well," Bunten said. "He was an asset to the Ann Arbor Police Department, and he has been an asset to the Saline Police Department. I am going to miss him a lot."

Ceo is on vacation and was unavailable for comment.

Ceo's retirement comes as the city is considering . The measure could save the city about $125,000 a year, according to city officials.

The plan is opposed by the Saline Police Officers Association, which suggested that money could be saved by reducing expenditures on department heads.

At a recent Saline City Council meeting, Councillor Dean Girbach suggested the city start looking at the salary structure of the department.

Ceo, who made nearly $87,000 in salary plus an estimated $50,000 in benefits in 2010-11, alluded to the situation in his resignation letter.

"I have heard that it is good to leave of your own volition before other people wish you gone — while some people still remember more about your accomplishments than your failings. I feel I am on that brink, and don't want to cross over," Ceo said.

Bunten said no decision has been made regarding the deputy chief position, but he said that if the position was eliminated, "Somebody in some rank would need to handle those duties."

Feeling the pressure of falling tax revenues and reduced revenue sharing from Lansing, the city has been negotiating for concessions from its unionized employees.

Negotiations between the city and the Saline Police Officers Association, whose members are contracted with the city until June 2012, have been difficult, but a deal appears within reach. A deal before council Monday night would see the officers' annual raises reduced from 3 percent to 1.5 percent. The deal would also be extended until June 30, 2013.