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Highlands Today

New AP Police Chief To Be Sworn In Today

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: May 11, 2008

AVON PARK — Former Daytona Beach Police Capt. Matthew Doughney's new beat as Avon Park's top police officer begins today after he is sworn in as the new police chief.

The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. inside Avon Park's City Council Chambers.

City Manager Sarah Adelt said that Doughney will earn $68,000 a year to take over the department. Adelt, his boss, earns $69,775 annually.

She also said that the city will plan a community "meet-and-greet" with the new police chief later this month, but the date has not yet been determined.

The department has gone on without a police chief since the end of September. Doughney's predecessor, Frank Mercurio, was asked to resign by then-city manager C.B. Shirey after a protracted public dispute over a police cruiser mileage sheet that began in last year's budget hearings. Cmdr. Michael Rowan acted as the police chief since Mercurio's resignation.

According to city documents supplied for today's council meeting, Rowan will receive a $6,115 stipend for acting as the police chief if the council approves it.

Doughney was offered the job last month after a committee sorted through 61 applications. The hiring made headlines both in Highlands County and in Daytona Beach after it was discovered that Doughney used a Daytona Beach Police Department cruiser to make the job interview in Avon Park in March and then crashed into a deer on the way back, but officials in both cities determined he did not violate a written policy since there was none to address this kind of situation.

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