FORKS — Four candidates for the Forks police chief post will be interviewed Monday and Tuesday next week.
Originally, six candidates were offered interviews, but some have dropped out of the running, said Mayor Bryon Monohon.
The interviews with the City Council and with the Civil Service Commission will be at 6 p.m. Monday in City Council Chambers, 500 E. Division St.
Those interviews will be open to the public, but the public will not be able to ask questions until the following day, Tuesday, Nov. 16, during meetings with the candidates.
The public forum will begin at 7 p.m. at Forks High School, 411 S. Spartan Ave.
The remaining candidates who will be interviewed are:
• Acting Chief Lloyd Lee of the Forks Police Department.
• Sgt. Richard Mann, Spring Hill Police Department, Spring Hill, Kan.
• Trooper James Paine, Utah Highway Patrol, Kaysville, Utah.
• Doug Price, retired State Patrol detective sergeant, Port Angeles.
Scott Bennett, a retired sergeant from the Rockwood Police Department, Rockwood, Mich., and Deputy Rick Pitt, Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Moses Lake, both withdrew their names from consideration, Monohon said.
Bennett accepted another job offer, and Pitt’s reasons for withdrawing his name were not known.
Brian Phillips of Lamar, Colo., was offered an interview but also withdrew his name, Monohon said.
When Monohon took office as the unpaid Forks mayor at the beginning of the year, he fired Police Chief Mike Powell to bring “new leadership to the Forks Police Department.”
Lee has filled the position since.
The salary range for the new police chief is $51,000 to $72,000.
The salary for Powell, who had been chief for 10 years, had reached $77,000.
Monohon hasn’t set a specific date for selecting the new chief but said he hopes to have the position filled by the beginning of 2011.
Forks has a “strong mayor” form of government, which grants Monohon hiring and firing authority.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
