Baton passed from one Mike to another: Tautin retires as police chief
Mike Crowley, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
5 min read
Jul. 8—The chief who led the city through the pandemic and a related labor shortage that strained the abilities of Meadville Police Department hung up his handcuffs on Friday, retiring after 23 years.
But while he will no longer carry the same title, a part-time consulting position with the department ensures Chief Michael Tautin will continue to carry out many of the same duties as a new "Mike" assumes command: Michael Stefanucci, the department's assistant chief since 2017, was promoted to chief at the close of business Friday.
Tautin started as a patrolman in May 2000 after previously spending a 12-week internship with the department as an Edinboro University student. In the years that followed, Tautin rose through the ranks: He was promoted to sergeant and became school safety officer in 2006, then became assistant chief in September 2013. When former Chief Eric Young retired in April 2017, Tautin replaced him.
The time for retirement was right, according to Tautin.
"I'm old," he joked as current and former colleagues gathered in the City Building's conference room just after noon on Friday for a sending off luncheon.
In fact, Tautin is not all that old — certainly not by typical retirement standards — despite his long experience policing Meadville. At 47, he would not have been eligible to retire from his city position with a full pension in the past, but City Council last month approved a temporary window that lifted the requirement that police department retirees must have both served 20 years and be at least 50 years old to be eligible to retire with full pensions.
"The timing with the city offer seemed right," Tautin said in explaining his decision to retire, "and with the way we're going to arrange things, it just makes sense."
City Manager Maryann Menanno said Tautin will remain with the department as a contracted employee working no more than 25 hours per week at a rate of $32 per hour. He will continue to perform many of the same administrative duties he had as chief and will also participate in recruitment efforts.
"It's a more public-facing kind of position at a much lower pay rate," Menanno said.
Given his position and length of service, the city was paying about $160,000 per year in combined salary and benefits with Tautin as chief, according to Menanno. His retirement will reduce the city's general fund expenses by more than $100,000. He will also be receiving pension benefits, of course, but those are paid from the city's police pension fund, which is independent of the general fund used for annual operating expenses.
And with Stefanucci being promoted to police chief, the assistant chief position will be left unfilled, Menanno said.
The retirement window offer remains open through Monday, but so far Tautin is the only one of four eligible department members to accept it, according to Menanno. The offer was designed to help the city cut costs as City Council members approach a budget deficit expected to approach $1 million.
As Tautin prepares to spend more time coaching — his two daughters are gymnasts — and considers becoming a gymnastics judge, Stefanucci, his colleague of nearly two decades, takes over a department once led by his father, Dave Stefanucci, who retired as chief in 2013.
Tautin was optimistic about the department's future though he expected budgetary challenges to remain an issue.
"We went through a different time together," he said. "COVID hit and shortly after we had massive manpower shortages, so a lot of it was just keeping everything running day to day with the same challenges every other police department probably faced in the country."
Tautin lobbied City Council to return officers to a traditional pension in the most recent labor negotiations with the union representing the city's police. The 2015 move to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan was a key obstacle in retaining recent hires, he said last year.
After several hires, including the first female officer in the department's history, the department is currently one patrol officer short of a full complement.
"I think we're in a much better place now in terms of being able to recruit and keep manpower, so that's one problem we're hoping that we're finally past," he said. "There's a great group of young guys here now that are good officers and very active in the community."
Stefanucci was among those eligible for the retirement incentive, but the 44-year-old thought he was too young to retire.
Instead he traded offices with Tautin on Friday and said he expected a smooth transition given the working relationship and temperament he shared with his fellow "Mike."
"We've always been able to talk everything through and come up with what we both believed was the right thing," Stefanucci said as guests began digging into a large sheet cake decorated with a police patch similar to the one on the shoulders of each of the city officers present. "I've never had an argument with the guy."
Nearby, Dave Stefanucci mingled with former colleagues and their successors, sharing memories and contrasting today's approach with police methods of the past.
"I'm really proud of him," the former chief said of the new chief. "It's a lot of work to get to that position. You have to be dedicated and your heart has to be in the job. I know he cares about his fellow workers, and that's really important."
