Monday night, the Tonganoxie City Council added the position to the city police department and then promoted Sgt. Mark Williams to the job and gave him the rank of lieutenant. Williams, a 1982 graduate of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, Hutchinson, has been a Tonganoxie police officer since February 1993.

Creation of a deputy chief’s position would help establish a more clearly defined hierarchy when dealing with other police departments, Chris Eppley, city administrator, said. The promotion includes an annual pay increase of about $600 for Williams, Eppley added.

“The chief of police has said if we decide to do this he will decrease his equipment budget to compensate for the increase in salary,” Eppley said.

Mayor John Franiuk said Williams has been an asset to the department.

City attorney Mike Crow agreed, and said, “Mark has a real stabilizing influence on the departments. He is a real steady guy.”

Council member Janet Angell noted that this would be a good move, in part because the chief of police, Kenny Carpenter, has not yet moved to Tonganoxie.

Williams, who was born in Topeka and graduated from high school there, served from 1977 to 1981 in the U.S. Navy. Before coming to Tonganoxie, Williams worked for 11 years as a police officer at Wichita State University.

Williams noted the growth of the police department since he came to Tonganoxie in 1993.

“When I came here, there were four full-time officers and eight part-time officers,” Williams said.

Today the department has six full-time officers, 10 part-time officers and two reserve officers.

Williams and his wife, Rita, have four children, Joe, 17, Alan, 15, Jacob, 14, and Jennifer, 13.