Mayor says Lynn chief choice not yet finalized

LYNN – One of the Police Department’s two deputy chiefs will assume the post of acting chief when Police Chief John Suslak retires in July.Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. said Monday no decision has been made about who will become the city’s next permanent police chief.”We are a civil service community,” he said. “I can’t simply pick a police chief. I can appoint an acting chief. I am mayor, not the king.”Suslak last month announced his intent to retire, leading to speculation that one of the department’s two deputy chiefs – Kevin Coppinger and Kenneth Santoro – would be named his successor.Clancy said he will discuss the situation with Joseph Driscoll, the city’s personnel director, and with David Grunebaum, a private attorney hired to handle the city’s collective-bargaining cases.”One of the deputy chiefs will become the acting chief. As far as I know, that’s my choice,” said the mayor. “It will be a difficult one because you have two great human beings and two great police officers.”Clancy said no action will be taken until Suslak completes his last day of work. “We have the Andy Fila precedent here in Lynn,” he said, referring to the English High School principal who repeatedly announced and rescinded his retirement. “I want to make sure nobody is going to change their mind. I also need to talk to (Driscoll and Grunebaum) about what the requirements are in terms of civil service. There are two or three different models that we can use.”Suslak, whose retirement is effective July 24, took over the department as acting chief on Oct. 1, 2000, following the retirement of Chief John “Jack” Hollow, who served as chief for 13 years. Two weeks later, Suslak was appointed police chief by then Mayor Patrick J. McManus. He served for more than eight years as chief.McManus had called for a police chief’s civil service examination in 1998 to set the stage for Hollow’s successor. Both Suslak and Coppinger took the test. Suslak scored slightly higher.