And then there were three.
Curtis W. Brame, a commander with the North Chicago Police Department, withdrew his application for Columbus’ vacant police chief position this weekend. The city announced Brame’s withdrawal Monday via Columbus Police Department’s Twitter account.
Brame, when contacted by The Dispatch early Monday afternoon, said he’s withdrawing for personal reasons.
“My father is ill, and I didn’t want to go too far once I started thinking about it,” Brame said. “I wanted to stay close by. It’s unfortunate. I was really looking forward to coming down to compete for the position. I really think I have the right tools to make things work for the police department and the community.”
The city in late December announced five finalists for the open chief of police position. Two of those finalists — both of whom currently work out-of-state — have now removed themselves from consideration.
Geoffrey Herweg, an assistant chief with the Lovington, New Mexico, police department, withdrew on Jan. 8.
The Columbus City Council will interview the remaining finalists at 3 p.m. today in the Municipal Complex on Main Street. The candidates are Waynesboro police chief Oscar Lewis III; Moss Point police chief Arthur C. McClung; and Fred Shelton, who is currently serving as CPD interim chief.
Mayor Robert Smith has said the city will conduct the interviews in open session. He reiterated that Monday.
“We welcome the public to come out and hear the entire interviews as we conduct them,” Smith said. “This will be a great opportunity to see and meet each of the three candidates at the same time the council learns more about them.”
The city is searching for a successor to former police chief Tony Carleton, who resigned in November.
In December, a special police search committee selected five finalists from a field of 26 candidates who applied for the vacant position.
The city advertised a $72,000 to $75,000 salary range for the chief of police position.
Prosecutor and judge positions
Councilmen today will also consider which applicants to appoint to the city’s vacant municipal judge and prosecutor positions.
The vacancies for both jobs stem from District Attorney Scott Colom’s victory in November’s general election. Colom, who began his district attorney term earlier this month, previously worked as the city prosecutor. He was appointed to the position in 2013.
Shortly after his election, Colom picked municipal judge Scott Amos to serve as one of his assistant district attorneys.
Amos worked in the position since 2010.
The city stopped taking applications for the open positions in December.
City Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell said there are three applicants for the judge position (Rhonda Ellis, William Starks and Chynee Bailey) and two applicants for prosecutor (Dennis Harmon and Thomas Kesler),
Both jobs are part-time. The judge position pays $24,152 and the city prosecutor position pays $25,751, according to Mitchell.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.