Justin Manchester will be Cobleskill’s new police chief.
Village board members appointed him at a special meeting this week. He’ll start July 30.
Chief Manchester succeeds Chief Jeff Brown, who’s retiring at the end of this week.
“We have a great group of officers,” Chief Manchester said. “I’m looking to take over where Jeff left off.”
On the force since July 2000, Chief Manchester, 49, was the department’s lieutenant-investigator; prior to that he was sergeant, and at first, patrolman.
A graduate of Schoharie High School, Chief Manchester was in construction when he decided to apply to the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Office.
He worked part-time and then full-time in the dispatch office before taking a test to be a deputy sheriff; Chief Manchester was assigned to the Corrections Division.
He graduated from the Otsego County Law Enforcement Academy in March of 1998 and for two years was a court officer for Judge George Bartlett.
“In July 2000 a position opened here, and I became a patrolman under Chief Tom Duesler,” Chief Manchester said.
He described himself as someone who likes to help people and also “figure things out.”
The attraction of law enforcement, Chief Manchester said, is that “no two days are ever the same. There’s always something different going on.
“It’s a unique career.”
Mayor Becky Terk and board members set Chief Manchester’s pay at $41.84 per hour.
Chief Manchester and his wife, Michaela, live in Cobleskill.
They have a grown son and daughter, Luke and Reise.