Published: January 08, 2009 10:02 pm      

38 submit resumes for police chief job

City Manager Bill Baine said Thursday he has received 38 applications so far for the vacant Huntsville chief of police position.

Baine said resumes will be accepted for at least another 10 days before a three-member committee starts reviewing the applications and narrowing the list of candidates.

“I would hope to make a selection for police chief in the next five or six weeks,” Baine said. “We’re probably nine or 10 weeks out from having a new person on the ground.”

The position came open when Director of Public Safety Jean Sanders resigned Nov. 19 to take a position as an investigator with the Equal Employment Opportunity Section of the Employee Relations Department at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Allwin Barrow Jr. of Humble is serving as interim police chief during the search for a permanent replacement for Sanders.

Barrow started Dec. 12, which was Sanders last day on the job.

Baine introduced Barrow during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Baine said the five- to six-week period “sounds like a long time, but it’s not such a long time when you have a pretty high quality guy as interim that allows you to make sure you’re not making any mistakes.

“We have three very experienced lieutenants and a very tenured sergeant.”

Baine said he plans to have three people screening resumes and “they will have to get three goes to go to the next step. Then we will go interviews and follow the rule of three until we get down to two or three that we can agree on.”

“Now, if I review all of these candidates and none is satisfactory, then I will reopen because I am not going to choose someone that is not going to fit the bill,” Baine said. “I don’t intend to settle as long as I still have high quality people around.”

Baine will make the final decision on hiring a new police chief.

“I have asked Allwin to do a few things ... some of which will be popular and some that won’t,” Baine said. “The police department has been his life’s work and I have confidence in him.

“Allwin has found a few things he needs to fix and I have asked him to fix them and fix them in a hurry. Some of those things he will be asked to fix won’t necessarily be popular.

“In the interim, we will continue with our search for a police chief. That is the plan.”