Police chief job down to 3 candidates

LEWISTON – Three candidates have been selected for Lewiston’s soon-to-be vacant chief of police position.

The candidates, announced Thursday are Capt. Jeff Klone, of the Lewiston Police Department; Mark Goodman, of the City of Pasadena Police Department in California; and Jason Kuzik, of the Henderson Police Department in Nevada.

Interviews will be conducted July 18 and there will be a meet and greet with the community from 4-6 p.m. that day at the Lewiston Community Center, 1424 Main St. There will be comment cards and light hors d’oeuvres at the event.

Police Chief Budd Hurd will be retiring July 15. Mayor Dan Johnson will hire the new chief after the Lewiston City Council voted June 27 to remove the requirement for council approval for top positions like the police chief.

Klone has been with the Lewiston Police Department for 16 years. He oversees investigations and support services, including code enforcement, the school resource officers program and the COPS downtown program. He began his career in Aurora, Colo., in 1996, then moved to work for the Lewiston Police Department in 2006. He has worked in every rank of the department and earned a master’s in criminal justice – public administration in 2016. He enjoys the community involvement portion of his job, living in the area and being outdoors on his days off. He has been married to his wife, Amanda, for 13 years and they have a son.

Goodman has been with the City of Pasadena Police Department for 28 years. He has worked up to the position of commander. He is the acting deputy chief, leading all 375 employees in the department and managing its $92 million budget. He was born and raised outside of Los Angeles in a small suburb and joined the department in 1994. He has a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice and a Master of Arts in organizational leadership. He graduated from the California POST Command College and is set to graduate from the FBI National Academy in September. He has been married for almost 27 years and has three daughters.

Kuzik has been with the Henderson Police Department for 25 years. He has experience in patrol, field training, criminal investigations and crisis negotiations and has worked as a federal task force detective and on SWAT. He serves as a patrol captain in an area that covers 20.7 square miles and a population of 101,976, where he manages 73 personnel. He has taught courses in financial crimes, geographic policing and civil liability. He was born and raised in Las Vegas and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He enjoys the outdoors, traveling, reading, live music and watching college sports. He has been married to his wife, Sandy, for 23 years and they have one son.