Published: July 17, 2008 08:52 am      

Search for city’s next police chief down to 5 candidates

From Staff Reports

The search for the new chief of police is down to five candidates, according to Mineral Wells City Manager Lance Howerton.

The city is looking for the successor to Jerry White, who resigned at the end of June.

Howerton said the city received about 30 applications. A committee comprised of himself, Palo Pinto County Sheriff Ira Mercer and city councilman as well as Weatherford Police Department Lt. Chris Crawford pared those down to seven candidates and sent each of them what Howerton described as “a very exhaustive survey where we could obtain detailed personal and professional information.”

They were due by 5 p.m. Monday, and five of the seven submitted their responses. Of the two candidates that did not respond, one reportedly sent the city a letter stating he was withdrawing from consideration.

Howerton said the selection panel will now go through the responses of the five candidates as well as perform background checks and verify information provided. The remaining candidates will be asked to respond to a management philosophy questionnaire, Howerton said.

He said the results of those efforts will result in presenting his selected candidate to city council.

“We are hopeful of having our process concluded in the month of August, maybe the first of September,” Howerton stated.