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Danville still looking for city manager, police chief

June 24, 2007|TODD KLEFFMAN

Danville has been without a permanent city manager and police chief for more than two months now and it will be awhile longer before either of the positions is filled.

The applicant pool for both jobs has been whittled down to a handful of semi-finalists who will be interviewed, but no interviews have been scheduled as of yet, said City Clerk Donna Peek.

The hiring process has been delayed, first by the budget and now by vacation schedules, Peek said.

Hiring a city manager to replace Darrell Blenniss, who resigned March 30, will take first priority. The goal is to fill that position by Aug. 1, said interim city manager Paul Stansbury, who was contracted from Bluegrass Area Development District to fill the job until a replacement is found.

Peek said 26 applied for the job and that pool has been reduced to nine people who will go through an initial round of interviews. Three finalists will be called back for second interviews before a decision is made, she said.

The names of those still in contention will not be released to the public, Peek said, mostly to protect the candidates from repercussions in their current jobs. Members of the screening committee did not even see the names or addresses of the candidates as they looked at resumes, she said.

"We just felt that would help maintain the highest level of objectivity," Stansbury said.

The remaining candidates for city manager are a mix of out-of-state people and at least one local candidate, Peek said.

Thirty-six people applied for police chief, and that list has been narrowed to nine. They include candidates from within the department, around the state and out of state, said Peek, whose husband, Jeff, retired as police chief in March. Assistant Chief Tony Gray is serving as interim chief.

It was decided to hire a city manager before a police chief so candidates for the police position would have a chance to meet their new boss before deciding on the job, Stansbury said.

Only the City Commission is involved in the hiring process for the chief's job.

Commission members plus others have been screening city manager candidates. The other members of the screening committee are Peek, City Engineer Earl Coffey, Fire Chief Mike Thomas, interim police chief Tony Gray, and citizens Bennie Thompson and Guy Smith.

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