Retirement bittersweet for police chief

Rhinelander police chief Lloyd Gauthier announced his retirement last month after working for the department since 1990. He formally announced his retirement at the Rhinelander city council meeting in December, receiving a standing ovation.

“You are second to none,” Mayor Kris Hanus told him. “I have yet to find someone who would speak ill will of you. They’re not out there. They don’t exist.”

Gauthier’s official last day on the job was Thursday. 

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity I’ve had, being a Rhinelander kid, being born at St. Mary’s hospital — the old one — going to Pelican Elementary and James Williams, then the high school and Nicolet College, to have the opportunity to serve the public in the capacity of a police officer,” Gauthier told the city council when he announced his retirement. “When I first got hired, my grade-school teachers were astonished. I was proof to them that miracles do happen.” 

He joked that he often found himself in the hall in grade school. 

He mentioned mentors he had throughout school, names that would be familiar to many who went through the Rhinelander school system. Names such as Mr. Scandin, Mr. Kitze and Mrs. Gardner were all mentors he mentioned. He also said, when he was pumping gas at Heubner’s Standard Station he had the opportunity to meet police chief Tony Paris. After talking with Paris about the profession, he was set on his way to becoming a law enforcement officer. 

He also had mentors through his time at Nicolet, he said, and was later hired as a dispatcher by Paris. Gauthier said he never wanted to leave Rhinelander, his home town. But, he said, he needed to get his first job as a law enforcement officer, and the state patrol gave him that opportunity. 

Gauthier said it was quite a different opportunity, moving from beautiful and relatively quiet Northern Wisconsin to Kenosha County, with six lanes of interstate and exponentially more people. He did this work for two years before landing a job back with the City of Rhinelander in the police department.

From there, Gauthier took a position with the Oneida County Sherriff’s Office. He rose into a command role there. That gave him eligibility for the chief of police role when it came available. 

“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” is Gauthier’s tagline in his email. He said he spent his own money to get leadership training, understanding the importance of that. Strong leadership was something on which he would build the rest of his career. 

“I think servant leadership is not spoken about enough, especially in the law enforcement field,” he said. “But it’s critical that you treat your employees with dignity and respect.”

Looking back at his eight years as police chief, Gauthier said he has been happy to work with the city and the city council in accomplishing some great things over the years. He said the city was moving in a good direction, with finally attaining a solid city administrator, which had been a bit of a “revolving door” position for man years. Having people like that in place, including the strength of the mayors he had the pleasure of working with over the years, had truly helped the city move forward. He said he was happy to have had a good working relationship with the city administrators, mayors and council members over the years.

Gauthier also spoke about the staff he had the opportunity not only to work with, but to promote. He said Captain Josh Chiamulera would be worthy of taking over his role as he left the department, saying Chiamulera’s passion for the community matched his own and was excited about the future of the Rhinelander community as well. From making the community walkable to helping residents with addiction and other mental health issues, Gauthier said. 

Parting, of course, will be bittersweet, according to Gauthier. He spoke about driving around the community as he wrestled with the decision to retire. He said it was emotional driving by many of the homes he had been in during his years with the police department, thinking about the sometimes very difficult situations in which residents were involved.

“People don’t ask us to come over when things are going well,” he said of law enforcement officers. “You’re asking your officers to deal with a lot of different things. It’s often a very difficult task, and you can’t be successful if you don’t have leadership that understands the community that they serve and that vision to serve the community.” He said the police and fire commission has made it clear that they were not hiring people just to be an employee, but to be a member of the community. Gauthier has always been a strong member of the community, and has taken his leadership role very seriously over the years. 

Gauthier thanked his wife and family for always supporting him, through all of the missed birthdays, holidays and other special events. 

“I could not have done this without them,” he said.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].