The field of Columbus police chief candidates has narrowed to five.
The city’s chief of police search committee met for about two and a half hours Monday morning in the municipal court. The 14-member committee spent most of the meeting behind closed doors in executive session. Afterward, Mayor Robert Smith told The Dispatch the committee reviewed 26 applications for the job, ultimately cutting out 21.
Smith said interviews will be the next step in the process. City officials did not release the names of the five finalists after the meeting in order to first inform them of their selection. Smith said he expects interviews will happen sometime in mid-January.
“It’ll be an open interview process,” Smith said. “This is where the citizens will be invited to come and observe the interview process. We will bring each applicant in one at a time and ask questions, and thereafter we’ll have our selection process.”
Smith said he hopes to have a new police chief by early February.
The city advertised a $72,000 to $75,000 salary range for the position.
The city is seeking to replace former police chief Tony Carleton, who resigned his position in early November in the wake of the Oct. 16 officer-involved shooting death of 26-year-old Ricky Ball.
The city council agreed to form the committee last month to encourage citizen involvement in the police chief selection process. Smith said he reached out to several police chiefs to add law enforcement experience as the committee reviewed applicants.
Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols, West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley and Cleveland Police Chief John Bingham joined the committee Monday morning to help review applicants.
“I asked the chiefs to give us some pointers because, from a law enforcement standpoint, they know a lot more than I do or some of the other people within the community,” Smith said. “They gave us some pointers to what they thought we should look far as far as selecting the new chief.”
Smith said the chiefs also offered to send interview questions that the council could just to use in addition to those already prepared.
Smith said he hopes to the city will hire a chief who can interact well with the public, while showing strong administrative and communication skills.
“Whoever the chief may be, the mayor and council will have to support this gentleman if we want him to be effective and do an effective job. We’re looking for someone with longevity,” the mayor said. “We don’t want a person to come here who’s just trying to finish out for retirement. We want someone to come who will put some stake in the game and who wants to be around here for a while.”
Committee members:
Mayor Robert Smith
Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell
Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box
Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner
Ward 1 representative Stephen James
Ward 2 representative RJ Matthews
Ward 3 representative Lee Roy Lollar Jr.
Ward 4 representative Tiffany Sturdivant
Ward 5 representative William Beckwith
Ward 6 representative Leon Speck
Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols
West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley
Cleveland Police Chief John Bingham
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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