Sours will be new police chief (12/9/03)

Portland will have a new police chief and assistant chief and new superintendents of the street and parks department and the wastewater treatment plant as of Jan. 1.

Portland Mayor-elect Bruce Hosier announced his appointments for city department heads and new board of works members late Monday.

Robert E. Sours, 51, a former city police officer and most recently the superintendent of the Jay County Highway Department, has been named the city’s new police chief, and Portland police officer Mark R. Heath, 49, was named the assistant police chief.

Former Portland Police Chief Jeff L. Harker, 48, was named street and parks department superintendent, and wastewater treatment plant employee Robert L. Brelsford, 47, was named superintendent of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

City Councilwoman Linda Kennedy, a Democrat, will replace Glenn Bryant on the Portland Board of Works, while Robert McCreery will retain a seat on the board of works despite losing his seat on the Portland City Council to Democratic challenger John Patterson

Hosier also re-appointed city attorney Bill Hinkle.

Portland Fire Chief Mike Thomas and water department superintendent Doug Jackson will remain in their current positions.

Sours turn-ed in a letter of resignation to Jay County Commissioners Monday, with an effective date of Wednesday, Dec. 31.

Jay County engineer Dan Watson will serve as interim superintendent after Sours’ departure.

Sours and his wife Laura have two children. He is a 1970 graduate of Portland High School and served in the U.S. Army prior to his appointment to the Portland Police Department in 1973. After graduating from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, he served 23 years with the Portland Police Department, including 12 years as sergeant and six years as assistant chief.

Heath, currently a city police officer, and his wife Stephanie have four children and two grandchildren.

He graduated from Portland High School in 1973 and from Vincennes University in 1975 with an associate degree in law enforcement. He joined the city police department in 1980 and served as investigator for the Tri-County Drug Task Force from 1990 to 1996.

Harker is currently employed as a warehouse manager at Createc Corporation. He and his wife Anita have four children and two grandchildren. He also served 23 years on the city police force, where he held positions as investigator and police chief.

The 1974 Dunkirk High School graduate also was activities director of the Jay County Boys Club from 1996 to 2000, and he worked two years for the county highway department.

Hosier also named Randy Mann to serve as assistant superintendent of the street and parks department. He is a 1985 graduate of Jay County High School, and was appointed to the water department in 1989, where he is currently the distribution foreman. He and his wife Tami have two children.

Brelsford served with the street and park department from 1995 to 1999. From 1999 until the present he has worked as the laboratory tech/general plant operator of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. He holds an Indiana Class 2 certification in wastewater treatment. He and his wife Kim have two children.[[In-content Ad]]