Among all the activities of the past week, I have tried to focus on the process of finding a new Police Chief. Joe Strecker has a favorite saying that applies here. A dog that chases two rabbits catches neither one!
So, what does that have to do with the Police Chief? Everything!
As I mentioned in the last Blog posting, I had a number of outlets for finding the new chief. Even during the shooting incident, I had to focus on the process of getting a new Chief. Yes, it would have been easy to refocus on the officers and their plight but finding their leader is my responsibility.
The application process concludes Wednesday afternoon. There are a number of people who have expressed interest from all over the United States. This weekend, I played host to a visitor who wanted to see our community before submitting a resume/application.
It was an interesting tour around town. Susan accompanied me on the tour with our guest and spouse. Susan was amazed at the places I have not shown her in Concordia but are important for a Police Chief candidate to see. Even here, there are places we do not want to acknowledge. At the end of the tour, I received the resume/application as if to say we passed the test.
The next step in our chief selection process is a written assignment. It will give me an opportunity to see how the candidates can write – if you can’t write, you can’t teach an officer how to prepare a good police report. The other part of the task is to see how they think. This part will be the first indication of how the candidates will fit in our community.
My plan is to have interviews mid month and a selection before the end of October.
