BOWLING GREEN - Tom Votava never set out to be police chief, and political differences between him and a former mayor nearly guaranteed he wouldn't be.
Chief Votava was fired by the late Mayor Charles E. Bartlett on the mayor's last day in office in 1975 after charges that the chief, then a sergeant in the police division, had illegally voted in the wrong precinct in the 1974 and '75 general elections. The charges were later dismissed and he was reinstated by the city's civil service commission, but it was the kind of thing that could have derailed his career.
"That was a very tough, emotional time for me because I did enjoy my job and I was faced with losing everything," the chief recalled in a recent interview.
Now, the Chicago native is retiring after 35 years with the police division he has led since 1997. A public reception for him is planned for 4 p.m. Friday in the training room of the police division.
"It's important for a person to know when to leave, and I think it's my time," Chief Votava, 60, said. "Too many people stay on too long and they stagnate. The organization stagnates. It's time for new ideas and thoughts, new ways of doing things I haven't thought of."
Deputy Chief Gary Spencer, who will take over as chief July 1, said his boss has had plenty of good ideas over the years, including programs that helped the community bet-ter understand and work with police. A long-running Citizens Police Academy and an innovative Citizens On Patrol program were among them.
"The thing I will remember most about Tom Votava is that I think he is a great visionary," the deputy chief said. "He has that ability of being able to look into the future and take care of things."
The chief's own future wasn't always so clear.
Returning from a two-year stint in the Army that included a year in Vietnam, he moved to Tiffin, where his parents were living at the time, and enrolled at Bowling Green State University. Before completing a degree, he answered an ad for the Bowling Green police division, took the test, and got hired.
He said he liked the job, though he hadn't previously considered a career in law enforcement. He was promoted to sergeant in 1972 and continued to move up the ladder, becoming deputy chief under his predecessor, Galen Ash, in 1986.
Mayor John Quinn said Chief Votava "continued a tradition Galen had of making the police division more professional and well-run. The police department has changed enormously, and Tom deserves a lot of the credit."
Over the years, Chief Votava has focused much of his energy on quality-of-life issues for the year-round residents who share their city with the university. He has been polite, but outspoken, about problems and possible solutions.
He also has agonized over crimes that weren't solved, particularly the city's lone unsolved murder, the 1987 death of Karen Sue Hirschman, a BGSU student who was stabbed in her Second Street apartment.
"I feel very sad that we haven't been able to give closure to that family," he said. "That's the one thing I hate most to leave with that unresolved."
In his retirement, he said he plans to catch up on some of the work he neglected at his Grand Rapids Township farm over the last nine years. To comply with the city's residency rules, he lived in a rented apartment in Bowling Green during the week and went home to his wife, Diana Pulschen, and two daughters on weekends.
He's also planning some extended motorcycle trips with his brother, Edward "Rusty" Votava, who retired June 9 as deputy chief of the police department in Itasca, Ill. The brothers are heading for Alaska in late July.
"I've been really fortunate to work for the city of Bowling Green," Chief Votava said. "We have great people, a great city. I look at our political leaders and I see them working together for a positive outcome. I look at other cities and I see political turmoil."
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-353-5972.
First Published June 12, 2006, 11:08 a.m.
