FORT SMITH -- City Administrator Carl Geffken said he will decide next week who among five finalists will be the city's next police chief.
The new chief will succeed Kevin Lindsey, who resigned in March. Police Maj. Dean Pitts has served as interim chief while the search is conducted for a permanent replacement.
Among the finalists is a current member of the Fort Smith Police Department, Maj. Mark Hallum, who is commander of the Criminal Investigation Division.
Two other candidates have Arkansas ties: former Fayetteville Police Chief Frank Keith Johnson and former Pine Bluff Police Chief Nathaniel Clark of Albany, Ga.
The other two finalists are Philip Kwasinski, District 12 executive officer with the Chicago Police Department, and Jeffrey Matthews of Mansfield, Texas, deputy chief of the Arlington Police Department.
Candidates for the police chief job were sought beginning last spring by a government recruiting company hired by Fort Smith, Strategic Government Resources of Keller, Texas, which sent the resumes of the five finalists to Geffken last month.
Geffken said two panels composed of a cross-section of the community met, interviewed and had lunch with the candidates over two days earlier this month. Panelists gave Geffken their impressions of the men, and some made recommendations, he said.
It will be up to Geffken to make the final choice, he said.
City records show the pay for police chief ranges from $68,868.80 to $108,388.80.
Lindsey, who became police chief in January 2007, resigned for making a racially inappropriate comment during a meeting March 2.
The meeting was in the city's Information and Technology Department. Lindsey made the remark to department director Russell Gibson and Pitts, the only other people in the room. However, a female employee outside the room heard the remark and reported it to her supervisor.
The supervisor reported it to Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman the next day. Dingman met with Lindsey about the remark but did not fire him.
Lindsey submitted his resignation to Dingman on March 10 and apologized to the community March 14 in an announcement before 80 city residents, police officers, city officials and members of news organizations at the Police Department.
The Police Department is one of six city departments getting new leadership in a year, with another vacant department head position yet to fill.
Geffken took over at city administrator in April, succeeding Ray Gosack, who retired in August 2015. Jennifer Walker succeeded longtime Finance Director Kara Bushkuhl, who retired Oct. 1. Mark Schlievert took over as director of sanitation in March, succeeding Baridi Nkokheli, whom Dingman fired in December.
More recently, Phil Christensen was promoted to fire chief in July after the retirement of Mike Richards. The city announced earlier this month that Naomi Roundtree will take over as head of the human-resources department on Oct. 17, succeeding Richard Jones, who resigned in September 2015.
Fort Smith is seeking a new director of utilities to succeed Steve Parke who retired in April. Geffken said Strategic Government Resources was working with the city to recruit the replacement and that he expected to have the new director in place in early next year.
NW News on 09/28/2016