Forks Police Chief Doug Price turned in a resignation letter at the Monday evening, Sept. 26 meeting of the Forks City Council.

His resignation came as a surprise and as a shock, Mayor Bryon Monohon told the Forks Forum.

Monohon said Price will remain as Forks Police Chief until the end of October. The resignation was for personal reasons, Monohon said.

A copy of the resignation letter is scheduled to be made available later today.

“He has done an incredible, wonderful job, has done a good job mentoring the staff and adding professionalism,” Monohon said of Price’s year on the job in Forks. “I have no gripes with him and don’t want him to go. He has done a wonderful job getting us from where we were to where we are going.”

Price was selected in January 2011 to replace former Forks Police Chief Mike Powell, who was fired by Monohon in January, 2010 shortly after Monohon took office. Former-Mayor Phil Arbeiter hired Powell in 2001. Price is a retired Washington State Patrol sgt. detective. A search for a new police chief included public meetings with several candidates appearing and a thorough vetting of Price’s law enforcement service record.

Powell became the focus of controversy in Forks after he fired three police department employees in 2007. The employees fought their dismissal. Personal issues were raised regarding Powell, but he was cleared of the charges following a costly lawsuit in Clallam County Superior Court. The cost to the city as a defendant in the suit is still affecting the finances of the City of Forks according to recent reports by Treasurer/Clerk Dan Leinan.