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STEUBENVILLE -- Retiring Police Chief Ken Anderson said his goodbyes at Tuesday's council meeting, thanking city officials past and present as well as the law enforcement community "for allowing me to be a part of this family for 33 years."
While his retirement officially begins July 20, Anderson has time off he must use before then, so his successor, Capt. Wes Crawford, will be acting police chief.
While a public gallery filled with family, friends and colleagues, including Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr., looked on, Anderson told Crawford to "work hard to leave this department better than you found it."
"I want your goal to be the same as my goal, the same as Chief McCaffery's, Chief McCartney's and every chief before them," he said. "The sheriff said it, 'Work hard to leave this department better than you found it.'
"As long as we keep working hard and moving things forward, good things will happen, and I think the best is yet to come because I look at these officers and everybody who's so committed -- they show up to work every day and they work so hard to protect this community. Our dispatchers, our support staff ... everybody comes together and that's a wonderful thing. I was just so blessed to be a small part of that over the years."
Anderson recalled how, as he was leaving the courtroom after taking his oath of service in 1993, he told a higher-up, "One day down, 25 years to go."
"He said, 'Let me give you some advice -- don't wish your career away because before you know it, it will be over.' He told me, 'Always take time to appreciate this job and the people that you work with.' That was such great advice and to get it on your first day, I never forgot it," Anderson said.
"One of the things I love about this department and this profession is from the day you retire, you always have people there to support you, to help you, to teach you, to encourage you and to challenge you to do better when you make mistakes. God knows, there's lots of people in this room to tell you I made plenty over the years, but I always tried to learn from them and try to get better. And you know, I was blessed throughout my career to have so many people, supervisors and coworkers to look out for me and I will never forget what they taught me and the support they gave me."
A resolution passed by council in the retiring chief's honor noted that after four years as a patrolman he transferred to the identification division where, in addition to honing his skills as an investigator and evidence photographer, he also learned basic and advanced hostage negotiation techniques and was part of several hostage crisis negotiating teams. McCartney appointed him to be the department's liaison to the families of the Franciscan University students who were kidnapped and ultimately murdered. He continued to advance through the ranks until 2022, when he was appointed chief, and is credited with building, maintaining and eventually expanding the city's crime camera system.
Abdalla said he'd gotten to know the chief years before when both worked with juveniles and, later, with the drug task force.
"He's everywhere in the city, supporting his officers -- you can tell by all of them here in the room and the people in this city, there's respect for him," Abdalla said.
Mayor Ralph Petrella said while he's only been in office a short time he's talked to him "hundreds of times."
"You're so responsive and you love our city so much," Petrella said. "You've been a great mentor and a great leader, and I'm really excited for where you have brought this department. I remember (20 years ago) when we maybe weren't the safest city -- I grew up in that period, and to (think back) to where we were and where we are now, know that you have had a huge impact and made our city better."
Former Mayor Jerry Barilla was also on hand, telling Anderson it had been an honor working with him during his eight-year tenure at the helm, telling him that his "attention to the people and their concerns and needs represents the fabric of who you are as a person, and, most certainly, your faith shines through."
"Your legacy will be of high standards that you have set for the (department)," he continued, telling Anderson, "may you be blessed with peace, happiness and love."
Councilman Tracy McManamon, who read the resolution aloud in its entirety, said the one question they'd asked all three candidates who applied for the chief's job was "what would you do differently?"
"Everyone had the same answer. They said, 'Not a whole lot. He's done a great job,'" McManamon said. "When you interview somebody and they say, 'You know what? I don't really want to change a lot because this guy's done a hell of a job ...' that's how your team felt."
Anderson thanked them for the celebration, saying it "means a lot to me, it means a lot to my family." He also thanked his wife of 31 years, Frankie, and sons Nick, Luke and Ryan.
"When you begin your career, retirement seems so far away," he said. "The older you get, the closer it gets. The time that you spent, the friendships you made and the work that you did -- they mean more to you than ever before. Standing here today I listened to that resolution ... 'you did this and you did that,' but you don't ever do anything here by yourself. You're part of the team and in all the best work we did ... it was everybody working hard. I'm so incredibly proud of our employees and how hard they work and what they mean to this city.
"This job allows you to go out and make a difference in the lives of the people that we serve and that's a powerful thing," he continued. "And whether it was an officer stopping to play basketball with some kids on the street or an officer buying a meal for somebody because they were hungry and didn't have any money or an officer who was treating somebody in the midst of a mental health crisis with kindness and compassion -- those were the kinds of things that I heard about on a regular basis and it just makes me so incredibly proud of these officers and our employees and what they do each and every day."