Chartiers Township police chief retiring after 30 years
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
James and Steven Horvath outside the Chartiers Township Police Department
Steven and James Horvath shortly after James was named chief of the Chartiers Township Police Department
James Horvath’s first day on the job as a Chartiers Township police officer
James Horvath will bring to a close 40-plus-year career with the Chartiers Township Police Department at the end of the month.
For 30 of those years, he has led the department as its chief.
“It’s bittersweet. This has been a great place,” Horvath said. “The good part about my job was I worked at something that I loved, worked at a place that I adore and I’m with people that I care most about.”
Among those people has been his brother, Lt. Steven Horvath, who has worked for the police department about as long as James has been chief.
Steven will take over his brother’s job on Feb. 1, and he feels he has been well-prepared for the job.
“I’m not worried. I think he did a great job; he hired well. We have a great bunch of officers,” Steven said.
The Chartiers Township Board of Supervisors approved Steven’s promotion at its Nov. 23 meeting. Gary Friend, board chairman, said James always had the township’s best interests in mind.
“I’ve known Jimmy for a lot of years, before I became chairman and when he was an officer … I can speak for everybody here that Jimmy did his job with the best dedication,” Friend said.
He added that he believes Steven will carry on that same dedication.
“I think it’s going to be a smooth transition. I think Jimmy has taught him well. I think Steven will be able to slide right in and do the same type of job that his brother did,” Friend said.
Township Manager Jodi Noble also had praise for the outgoing chief.
“I think the chief needs to be commended for running what has been an extremely professional and dedicated, community-oriented police department. We have every confidence that Steve will continue in the same manner,” Noble said.
The Horvath brothers were born and raised in Chartiers Township, though being a police officer was not always in the cards for James.
“When I was young, I think every youngster thinks about being a policeman or a fireman, and then it kind of left me for a while. I probably wasn’t suited for the job at that time. Then I met my wife, and her dad was the fire chief, so he got me involved with the fire department. Through that, I evolved,” Horvath said.
It was around that time Eugene Oliver took notice of James and suggested he become a police officer. Chartiers police had only three officers, Oliver included.
James was hired along with another officer, and shortly after Oliver was promoted to chief, a position he held from 1979 until 1992, when James took over.
“I wasn’t able to go to the academy for a year-and-a-half. So I was the guy that (Oliver) handed the keys to and said, ‘Call me if you need me,'” Horvath said. “My first thing was I went and got a couple dollars’ worth of dimes and nickels for the pay phones, because we didn’t have cellphones back then. I made sure I found out where all the pay phones were so I knew where I could go to call him.”
While then there were only a few officers who worked part time, save for Oliver, the department has since grown to 13 full-timers.
“If I’ve done anything right in this job, I’ve hired well. My first hire was Mike Pelosi, and he was very big part of our department. Lt. Horvath was hired just prior to me being (named) chief by our old chief, Eugene Oliver,” James said.
Steven said his early days with the department were challenging, as it was difficult to overcome the perception that he was only there because of his last name.
“They all felt that he hired me, and they said I got my job because he was the chief. In the beginning it was kind of tough, because you got to establish yourself,” Steven said.
Though they have worked together as police officers for 30 years, they made an effort to maintain a separation between family and business.
Steven still calls his brother “chief” no matter the setting, but they seldom discuss their work.
“We’d go to the mountains, we’d go deer hunting or we’d go to the beach, and we never talked shop,” Steven said.
As James prepares to leave, he recognized how the community he has spent much of his life serving has reciprocated that respect.
“We’re probably the only department that you’ll know of that has a group of residents that went out there and named themselves Friends of the Chartiers Township Police Department. They go out and do fundraising to equip us,” James said.
While James has tried to prepare his brother for the job, he offered Steven this advice:
“When he makes a decision, when he makes a choice – do it for all. Not because it’s the popular thing to do. Not because it’s the political thing to do. Do it because you, in your heart, believe that’s a decision you need to make that will be the best decision for all, not just one or two. It has to be for all,” James said.