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Council schedules police chief interviews; one candidate remains and selection timeline could extend into May
Summary
Councilors agreed to proceed with an interview of an available candidate while discussing whether to reopen the recruitment; negotiations with a selected finalist could push a final appointment into early May.
Councilors discussed the remaining candidate pool for the police chief vacancy, agreed to proceed with scheduled interviews and debated whether to reopen the recruitment to produce more finalists.
A council member urged moving forward with scheduled interviews this week because the vacancy has prolonged uncertainty: "I don't feel like we should linger with the job of police chief. I think it's something that we need to go ahead and get done with." Another council member recommended reopening the posting to attract more candidates, saying the council should "interview more than 1 candidate for this very important position."
Staff said one candidate, identified in the transcript as "Mr. Mack," remained scheduled for an interview at 3 p.m. on Wednesday; staff also noted there are two additional applicants in a secondary group who met some but not all qualifications. Council scheduled a special called meeting April 16 at 3 p.m. at Turner Searls Community Center and said interviews would proceed in that forum if space or scheduling required it. Members discussed the process after interviews: negotiations over salary and relocation could take a few weeks, and a council member estimated a possible earliest vote around May 5 if negotiations go quickly.
No formal selection vote was recorded in the work session transcript. Council members said any hiring decision would require negotiation with the chosen finalist and a subsequent formal council agenda item for final approval.
