Doug Shannon, Mount Vernon’s soon-to-be-former police chief, is looking forward to doing more fishing.
As Mount Vernon Mayor Tom Wieseler called for a vote to approve Shannon’s resignation at the Feb. 19 city council meeting, the five council members gave vocal groans and dejected tones in response. They each were reluctant to let the longtime chief go.
But with a 5-0 passing, Shannon will be a retired man effective July 31.
“It’s truly been an honor and privilege,” Shannon told the council of his service to the city. “All the city staff have been great. I told them 100 times — the last eight years have been the best years of my time in Mount Vernon … It’s been an amazing career. I’ll miss it for sure, miss the people, miss the activities. But it’ll be nice to do a lot more fishing.”
Shannon has debated and talked through his retirement plan over the last couple of years, knowing his clock was ticking. But with confidence in the leadership and in the city’s position today, he felt it was the right time to step away.
The council showered Shannon with praise in return. Council member Stephanie West took a moment to thank Shannon for helping her husband after he suffered a serious biking accident.
“He came to [consciousness] right after that accident, and the first face he saw was Doug,” West said. “It’s personal for me. I can’t thank you enough for that moment and all of those moments you provided for so many other people.”
Shannon did promote the police department’s K9 Golf Outing at the meeting. Set for June 13, this will be one of his last events for the community before he retires to his children, fishing rod, and bait.
“[That’s] probably the only time we’ll see him in June,” said councilman Craig Engel jokingly.
But Shannon plans to stick around both through and after July to help his successor transition into his role.
Wieseler said a decision on that successor will come soon, but it won’t include a national or regional search for an applicant. The city is instead in what he called a “transaction discussion” with neighboring Lisbon’s city manager and mayor.
Regardless, Shannon’s efforts for Mount Vernon will be tough to top.
“The city has been in excellent hands with your leadership as a sergeant here throughout your term as chief, as painful as this is for me personally,” councilman Paul Tuerler said.