By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Florence Mayor Julie Aubuchon administered the oath of office to three new people hired as police officers this week at the regular city council meeting.
• Ryan Fox, who is 24, lives in Burlington, and graduated from Cooper High School in 2017. Police Chief Tom Grau related that Fox worked at Gateway, and then joined the Army, and served for about 3 1/2 years.
• Brandon Brockman is 30 years old, and lives in Independence. A graduate of Walton Verona in 2011, he also attended NKU, and then worked for 9 years at Andy’s Glass.
• Joseph Smallwood is 29 years old, and lives in Falmouth, attending Pendleton County High School and graduating in 2012. Smallwood has been working full time ever since.
All three will attend the Police Academy in Richmond, beginning in October for a 20 week course.
“This doesn’t quite bring our department up to full,” said Grau. “We have two more positions we are looking to fill. This is a great start.”
Family and friends were present to see their relative be sworn in as a police officer for the city of Florence.
As soon as the three received their badges, Mayor Aubuchon called up four men who have been hired by the city to work in the Fire Department.
• Nathan Belden has been hired as a firefighter/Paramedic. He grew up in Union, and joined the fire service in 2018 as a volunteer. He attended EKU while working as a firefighter/ EMT part time. Then he came back to this area to pursue a full time career position. He started working full time in 2021, while obtaining a paramedic license with Gateway KCTCS. He is now pursuing an Associates degree in Applied Sciences with an emphasis in Paramedicine.
• Patrick Whalen joined the fire service in 2010 with the Williamstown Volunteer Fire Department, where he received his EMT-B license. He worked in the distillery sector of private industry. In 2022 he took a position with the Walton fire Department while attending Gateway KCTCS, graduating in July of this year.
• Josh Abdon joined the fire service in 2007 as a volunteer in East Enterprise, Indiana. He worked construction until 2021 when he obtained a full time career in the fire service. He received an EMT certification and worked toward his career in the fire service. He was hired at Lawrenceburg fire department in 2019 as a part time firefighter EMT, and then full time in Union fire department in 2021.
• Collen Kim started his firefighting career as a volunteer at Southgate Fire department. During that time he took an internship with Alexandria Fire District to go through EMT class. After receiving his certification he worked for Southgate for two more years. He would like to go on to receive his paramedic certification.
“We would like to welcome our four new members of the Florence Fire and EMS,” said Fire Chief Rodney Wren.
Mayor Aubuchon also welcomed all the new police and fire employees.
“Thank you to the families for your committment to our city, and sharing your loved one with us,” she said. “We do appreciate them as a family, as you can tell with all the others here to congratulate them.”