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The Onalaska Police and Fire Commission offered the city’s police chief job to Jeffrey Trotnic of Duenweg, Mo., contingent upon background review, medical and psychological examinations.

The city received word late last week from Dennis Weiner of New York, the commission’s first choice, that he had changed his mind about taking the job. Weiner could not be reached for comment.

Trotnic accepted the contingent offer and said he is looking forward to making Onalaska his new home. He is married and has three daughters. His wife, Julie, is a licensed practical nurse working in a nursing home.

After finding the job posting online, Trotnic and his wife thought Onalaska was part of Alaska at first. “I’ve kidded my wife for many years I would take her to a cold state. She doesn’t like the cold, but my daughter and I really like snow. So we joked about moving north a lot,” Trotnic said. “When we found out it was Wisconsin, we really looked into the area, and we really liked what we were seeing. We really felt at home.”

The past controversies in the Onalaska Police Department don’t worry Trotnic — they encouraged him. “I found the article online about the spouses of the officers who spoke at a city council meeting and after reading that article, I told my wife, ‘This is where I want to be,’ Trotnic said. “I‘m fortunate to be in an occupation I love. What each spouse had to say, it appeared to me that there’s an environment where the people (officers) got into the occupation for the right reasons. They love and want to do their jobs as police officers.

“What I’m reading here is, yeah, there’s stuff going on, but with my management style, it’s a good fit,” he continued. “I want to be part of an environment where officers can get to feel the way they should about being police officers and enjoying coming to work every day.”

Trotnic said he likes to be engaged with his officers and the community. “As a bureau commander, I was in early to be at the shift changes because I like to know what’s going on and what the officers are facing,” he said. “We regularly meet with the officers for a barbecue at my home just for the camaraderie. I just like to get to know the people I’m working with and to find out what the issues are, internally and externally, and try to solve issues.”

Trotnic is the police chief of Duenweg and serves as a lieutenant in the investigation bureau of the Joplin Police Department. Duenweg is a town of about 1,000 residents and Joplin’s population is about 100,000. Trotnic has been the chief of Duenweg since 2005 and has been responsible for the hiring and discipline of officers, policy development, grant writing and budgeting.

As a lieutenant in the investigations bureau of the Joplin Police Department, Trotnic is responsible for day-to-day operations and its two sergeants, eight general detectives, four narcotics officers, two career enhancement officers and the evidence facility.

He is a member of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators, a deacon of his church and teaches youth Sunday school, an instructor of workplace violence seminars for the police department and a graduate of the FBI National Academy. In 1992, he received a Meritorious Service Award for his actions in a fire rescue.

Trotnic is also responsible for overseeing Joplin’s application to become accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. He is confident Joplin’s police department will receive CALEA’s accreditation by the end of July.

One class shy of completing his master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Central Missouri State University, Trotnic is continuing his education. Once he completes the last course — statistics, which he dreads — he will be working on his thesis. He received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Missouri Southern State University in 2003.

Trotnic grew up in rural Kansas, graduating from high school in Cherokee. He moved to Missouri in 1988 to work for the Joplin Police Department.

He will retire from the Joplin and Duenweg police forces on Aug. 22 after 20 years of service and, at 41, was looking for a new challenge.

“I’ve always wanted to concentrate on a job as chief in a smaller community (than Joplin),” Trotnic said. “Joplin was too large with 108 officers and Duenweg has five officers, including myself.”

He said he and his wife felt Onalaska had a big town feel, but was small enough that he could still feel connected to the officers and the community and allow his wife and family to continue their volunteering for their community.

“We were very impressed by the whole town,” Trotnic said. “It had a good feel for us.”

What he is not sure about is when he’ll actually start his new job in Onalaska, assuming he clears all the background checks. While he can’t make the move before Aug. 22, his family might.

He has three daughters. The oldest is 19 and a freshman in college. The middle daughter is 16 years old and a sophomore and the youngest is 10 years old and in the fourth grade. “Depending on when school starts, the family may be moving ahead of me,” Trotnic said.