By Michael Van Cassell
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Police chief nominee Brian Kozak will take a pay cut of approximately $29,000 to come here.
Mayor Rick Kaysen announced a week ago that Kozak was his nomination for Cheyenne Police Department chief.
Kozak is the chief of the Avon Police Department in Colorado, a mountain resort community where he makes about $113,000 a year, according to city officials.
As Cheyenne’s chief of police, Kozak will make $84,625 a year, Kaysen said.
Kozak cited several factors in his decision to take the job in Cheyenne, including a personal preference for his family.
Among those factors are quality of life and cost of living.
“The cost of living difference is really extreme,” he said.
He and his family live in a duplex in Avon, Colo.
“One of the things my family would like to do is live in a single-family home, which we could never do here,” he said.
Kozak has two daughters, one of whom is a sheriff’s deputy looking to relocate to the area. The other wants to attend college nearby, he said.
Proximity to Denver and Fort Collins, Colo. also is a draw for Kozak. In Avon, which is nearly two hours from Denver, the Kozaks are relatively isolated.
He also has retirement benefits from his time with the Mesa Police Department in Arizona.
And the opportunity to run a department five times the size of the Avon Police Department also is a motivating factor.
He said he believes there is new leadership ready to take over in Avon, and he said the department has worked hard to prepare for that.
Kozak said the city should look at the salary in the future to remain competitive with other departments, although he understands economic times are tough.
“It’s just not fair to ask for that to be increased when you have police officers and other city employees taking furloughs,” he said.
Copyright 2010 Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.