HANLON, Oct. 2, 2025 — The Hanlon Select Board held a special meeting Thursday to interview three finalists for the town’s police chief vacancy, announcing a standardized interview procedure and a plan to take the hiring decision up at the board’s next regular meeting.

John Flynn, a member of the Hanlon Select Board, opened the meeting by saying, “The sole order of business for this meeting is to conduct interviews for the new police chief,” and described the format the board agreed to: three candidates, 30 minutes each, the same questions for every candidate and a scoring sheet provided by the town administrator.

The board said candidates would be brought forward in a random order, sequestered downstairs while another candidate was being interviewed, and asked not to watch the Zoom broadcast or otherwise share information about other interviews. Flynn said the board had pared member-submitted questions to eight and that board members would rotate asking those questions to keep the interviews comparable.

The board repeatedly emphasized timing and consistency: “We have scheduled 30 minutes for each candidate,” Flynn said, and said the group planned to allow brief follow-up questions within that slot. Town Administrator Brian (surname not specified in the transcript) prepared the scoring sheet the board used during the interviews, and board members said they would use recorded audio/video to review answers before formally deciding.

No appointment was made at the special meeting. Flynn told the candidates that the board planned to review the scoring and convene on Monday to select a finalist for appointment. The meeting concluded with a procedural motion to adjourn; the motion carried after a voice vote.

What happened: The meeting’s sole agenda item was the police chief interviews. The board established interview ground rules, ran three scheduled interviews and left hiring to a future public meeting. No motions to hire or personnel appointments were made on Oct. 2.

What’s next: The Select Board intends to review the scoring sheets and the recorded interviews and to consider a hiring vote at its next meeting on Monday. The board recorded Thursday’s session and said a video will be available for members to review before the hiring vote.

— Reporting by the Hanlon Select Board meeting transcript review team