Latrobe City Council voted last night to remove the “interim” tag from James Bumar’s title.

Council approved a motion to name Bumar the city’s new police chief pending an evaluation by the Civil Service Commission. Bumar has been serving as the interim chief since October, when longtime Chief Charles Huska retired after 37 years of service.

After Huska’s retirement, council discussed the possibility of merging the duties of police chief and city manager, and hired Latrobe consultant David S. Nale to evaluate the police department. Council even instructed City Manager Rick Stadler to prepare two budgets for 2011 — one that included a police chief’s salary, and one that did not.

“(Nale) basically said we have a really good department and our department can really achieve good things but that we did need a chief and a full complement of men,” Bumar said. “He said we need a leader.”

Before Bumar’s appointment to police chief, much of the discussion was centered around a report from Pittsburgh-based Carl Walker Construction about the city’s shuttered parking garage.

Deputy Mayor Ken Baldonieri said the report found that about 50 percent of the garage needs to be repaired. The garage has been closed since July 2 after a 9-by-5-foot selection of it collapsed, causing the city to lose 289 parking spaces.

Many downtown business owners and physicians, including pediatrician Dr. David Wyszomierski and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arnold Wigle, have been pining for a solution to the parking problems the garage’s closure has brought.

A December report by the construction company said portions of the garage may be able to be reopened pending further corrosion tests of the concrete. Council members said no plan is in place yet to open any part of the garage, but the parking authority should be discussing the issue at its meeting next week.

Wigle, who was given a copy of the report by Baldonieri, said he called Carl Walker employee Charles Churches, who prepared the report, and talked to him about the options for the garage.

“Unfortunately the damage is not to the top level only, but it is spread out,” Wigle said. “(Churches) said it would be impractical to open partly if it is going to be repaired.”

Wigle said Churches estimated the garage would take about three months to repair.

Solicitor Jim Kelley said although the repairs would be completed in a timely manner, funding is still an issue and could take time.

Bumar also announced that the police department will receive an $8,000 grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for the purchase of a K-9 officer.

Ron Weimer, chairman of the city planning commission, said he applied for the grant about a year ago.

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