A Police Commission member is resigning from that elected position to take the job of police chief at the Middlebury Police Department.

On June 3, James Viadero, 54, who was serving the first year of his second four-year term as a Police Commission member, submitted his letter of resignation to the commission. Mr Viadero, a Republican, was first elected to the commission in November 2009.

Mr Viadero, who has been a Bridgeport police officer for nearly 30 years, is expected to take over the chief’s job in Middlebury soon. Middlebury officials selected Mr Viadero as police chief in May.

At the Bridgeport Police Department, Mr Viadero most recently served as a captain, supervising the department’s detective division.

In his letter, Mr Viadero wrote that his resignation from the Police Commission will become effective when he assumes the police chief’s position in Middlebury.

Mr Viadero explained that he would resign from the commission “due to anticipated time constraints and to prevent any conflicts from arising.”

“It has been a great honor and privilege to serve as a member of the Board of Police Commissioners … The members of the Newtown Police Department are a valuable resource to the community, and it was a distinct honor to work with both the sworn officers, fellow commission members, and the community in achieving a common goal of providing professional police services to the residents of Newtown,” he wrote.

Mr Viadero added, “The officers of the department have distinguished themselves as consummate professionals in one of the most harrowing experiences any community could ever experience, demonstrating all that is good in law enforcement” in apparent reference to 12/14.