The field of hopefuls to be Columbus’ top cop has narrowed to eight, city officials said Tuesday.
The police chief selection committee met Tuesday morning at City Hall in an executive session that lasted about 40 minutes. After the meeting, Mayor Keith Gaskin told The Dispatch the committee had whittled down the list from 37 applicants who met the minimum requirements.
Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell told the Dispatch Tuesday afternoon the committee plans to hold two meetings next week, on Tuesday and Friday, to conduct Zoom interviews. It plans to interview four candidates at each meeting.
The city is replacing former chief Fred Shelton, who retired on Aug. 15. He announced his intention to retire on July 12, hours before a special-call city council meeting to discuss his job performance.
Columbus City Council appointed Assistant Chief Doran Johnson to serve as interim chief, effective Aug. 16. He said at the time he would apply for the permanent post, but city officials have not identified any applicants or finalists.
The city council appointed a 10-person search committee Aug. 16. The members are: Gaskin, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett, Mitchell, former Columbus Police Department Chief Pete Bowen, District Attorney Scott Colom, public defender Amanda Meadows and Civil Service Commission member Rita Felton.
Gaskin said he is pleased with the narrower list.
“We have a diverse group,” Gaskin said. “Some are sitting chiefs in other cities, some are assistant chiefs. There are a few who are recently retired but retired at a young age from a high position.”
Gaskin said some of the internal applicants did make the top eight but would not elaborate on who they were or how many of them made the cut. He said the city may release the names of the finalists once the process gets that far.
“When we narrow it down to a final group, we will let the community know,” Gaskin said. “But at this point, we have to be respectful of the people who applied. In some cases the places where they are working may not know they have applied.”
When asked why he couldn’t release the names of the internal applicants, even though the city knows they’re applying, Gaskin again said he wouldn’t release the names.
“Out of respect for the process, we’re not releasing any names,” Gaskin said.
Gaskin said there had been no discussions about holding any of the finalist interviews publicly.
“I know they’ve done that in the past, and I’ve heard both positive and negative things about how that went,” Gaskin said. “… I am very interested in making sure that our community is aware of the process. As we get closer we will be much more transparent.”
Gaskin added that the committee may decide to revisit applicants who didn’t make the top eight.
“We have it down to eight, and once we do the Zoom interviews there is a chance we could reach back and look at some of the ones that didn’t make the top eight,” Gaskin said. “That’s one of the reasons we need to be careful with releasing these names right now.”
Greene told The Dispatch after the meeting that he was pleased with how the search was going so far.
“I’m very happy with the people on the committee,” Greene said. “We’re narrowing down the 37, and we have a good first consensus. There are quite a few candidates that stood out to everybody.”
Greene said he was glad the process was moving quickly.
“I’m glad we’re not dragging this out,” he said. “Maybe there’s an obvious applicant that will stand out to everybody and we can go even faster.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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