Pictured is Capt. Scott Forster with the Jamestown Police Department. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

A captain with the Jamestown Police Department is being promoted to the position of deputy chief. The provisional move for Capt. Scott Forster was made following the retirement of Capt. Robert Samuelson last week.

As one of two captains with the police department, Forster has been commander of the Operations Division. His promotion was announced during a City Council work session on Monday.

Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At-Large, said a lieutenant will run the police department’s Detective Bureau; Samuelson had been overseeing the bureau prior to his retirement Friday.

Forster and Police Chief Timothy Jackson will take on other tasks previously handled by the departed Samuelson.

Russell, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he asked for a breakdown of what the department will save by moving Forster to his new deputy chief position.

“I know we’re not going to have to provide a car anymore,” Russell said. “And I’m assuming that, as a result of losing one individual, when the time comes we could potentially hire someone else to fill that spot.”

Mayor Kim Ecklund said the move was “talked at length … multiple times.”

She added, “If this doesn’t work, we have the option to go back to that, but I don’t see why it won’t work.”

In other business:

— Matt Coon, deputy fire chief, said the roof at Station 5, 195 Fairmount Ave., has been “weathered in” following a partial roof collapse last winter. Coon said the contractor will complete the roof work in the spring.

“The building is stabilized and it is all weather-tight for this season. The permanent fixes will come next spring,” he said.

A floor project at Station 5 is currently out to bid as well, Coon told the City Council. The deputy fire chief expects the bids to come in by the end of the month and to have an update for the council.

— Russell said a Civil Service test for the fire department is being administered this weekend. “Sounds like a lot of people signed up to take that test,” Russell said.

Coon responded, “Hopeful that we’re going to have a really good turnout.” He also noted that a emergency medical technician program at Jamestown Community College had “quite a full roster there of enrollees.”

“We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to continue to recruit to try to meet that goal for SAFER, through FEMA, and to put more providers into the pipeline as we roll along with our recruitment effort,” Coon added.