CITY OF NEWBURGH – Newburgh’s years-long search to find a permanent police chief will take a little longer.

City Manager Michael Ciaravino’s choice of Beacon police Chief Doug Solomon to lead Newburgh’s department is in limbo while the city awaits a ruling by the state on whether the civil-service exam Solomon passed to become Monticello chief in 2002 can be used for Newburgh.

“They said that they would do the best they could to expedite the response, but they could not give me a time frame,” Newburgh Civil Service Administrator Michelle Mills said Wednesday.

Ciaravino told the City Council on Dec. 11 that his choice to fill the long-vacant chief’s position was Solomon, whose last day as Beacon chief is Friday.

In a letter to the city’s Civil Service Commission the next day, Ciaravino highlighted Solomon’s experience leading departments in Monticello and Beacon, two municipalities whose diversity mirrors Newburgh’s.

“He has worked in a jurisdiction with a great amount of diversity as well as serious socio-economic problems,” Ciaravino wrote in his letter to the CSC.

Solomon, who is also currently Monticello’s mayor, would become Newburgh’s first permanent police chief since Mike Ferrara retired in January 2015.

Since Ferrara’s retirement, Newburgh has issued two open calls for applications, held two civil-service exams and had a failed effort to hired former Acting Chief Dan Cameron as permanent chief.

Ciaravino sought unsuccessfully for more than a year and a half to see favored successor Cameron become permanent chief. The effort included a failed lawsuit against Newburgh’s Civil Service Commission.

In August 2016, the state ruled that an Orange County-administered chief’s test taken by Cameron had “less restrictive” education requirements than Newburgh’s exam.

The state also ruled that although the county and Newburgh exams had the same “test plan,” the county’s standard for passing was lower because police departments like Newburgh’s have more officers and a “more complex” organizational structure.

Solomon started as a patrol officer for Monticello in 1988 and became chief in 2002. He retired as the village’s chief in March 2012 and took over Beacon’s department.

Among his highlights in Beacon was implementing the terms of a 2010 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. The agreement’s mandates included a reduction in the use of choke holds, limits on the type of ammunition allowed and a revision of Beacon’s policies on the use of pepper spray.

lsparks@th-record.com