During an Aug. 5 special Catasauqua Borough Council meeting, Ray Anthony was voted to serve as the new borough police chief with a 5-2 majority vote.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Anthony said right after the council vote. “I’m very thankful council made the decision.”

Anthony, a resident of Danielsville, has been working as a part-time police officer in Catasauqua for 22 years. He is also a certified fire investigator and inspector, which he uses to serve the borough as fire marshal and fire code official. Additionally, Anthony was approved in February to serve as emergency management coordinator for the borough.

He has worked in law enforcement for 32 years. He retired from the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office in 2021 as chief deputy.

“I’ve had my hands in emergency services since 1984,” Anthony said.

He said the recent retirement of Douglas Kish, the previous police chief, allowed him the opportunity to step forward into the role.

“I’ve had leadership positions in other jobs, and law enforcement is where my heart is at,” Anthony said. “I feel like I’m at a position now with my years of experience, being more mature, that I’m going to be able to lead the department into the future.”

His first priorities on the job will be to continue the accreditation process, fill out the roster with more personnel and look into the reported concerns from a state report earlier in the year.

He said he is ready to get more into the administration side of things, particularly the scheduling. He also noted they are “well into” the process to get the department accredited, so he wants to continue moving that forward.

Anthony noted the state report might have included some inaccuracies. He said he was not sure how some of the information was passed along or if there was some miscommunication, but he wants to take a closer look at the report.

“There are a lot of things in that report, at least some of the things I have been made privy to, that aren’t necessarily, from an interdepartmental standpoint, accurate,” Anthony said.

He plans to take a full look at the report and identify what areas need addressing, what might not have been reported accurately and how best to improve and move the department forward.

Anthony also reported he plans to continue in his emergency management and fire investigator roles within the borough.

“There’s no one else certified to do those currently, so I did inform council in my interview that I intend to maintain those roles,” Anthony said. “There’s no reason not to.”

Moving forward, the decision will go to the Civil Service Commission to approve council’s decision of Anthony as the new police chief.

“There are some other negotiations we have to do, but I’m sure that will run smoothly,” Anthony said, adding he is ready to go when the process is complete.