FORKS — The Civil Service Commission in Forks, the City Council and Mayor Bryon Monohon are reviewing resumes of 13 hopefuls for the chief of police job, which was vacated in January.
Between three and five finalists will be selected by the end of next week, Monohon said.
“We haven’t put together an exact timeline yet,” Monohon said Thursday.
“As soon as we have the finalists, we can start looking at that.”
Deputy Chief Lloyd Lee, who has been serving as the interim police chief, is one of the 13 candidates, Monohon said.
“Lloyd has been acting chief and because of that he’ll get an automatic interview,” Monohon said.
He declined to name the other candidates, saying he will identify them after they have been chosen and notified.
“I’ll say we have a very interesting group of prospects,” he said.
In one of his first actions upon taking office as mayor, Monohon fired Police Chief Mike Powell.
Powell was making about $77,000 per year.
The salary for the new chief will be negotiated, Monohon said.
Those invited for an interview will talk with the City Council and Monohon in private interviews and then undergo an interview that will be open to the public.
“My main thing is that I want the new chief to be the citizens’ chief,” he said.
“I want the community to be behind whoever is chosen.”
Monohon, who has hiring and firing authority as part of the “strong mayor” system in Forks, said that he would take into consideration the opinions of the City Council, the Civil Service Commission and a citizen advisory committee that was formed to review the applications.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
