Public Safety Advisory panel narrows list of Chief of Police applicants

The Public Safety Advisory Commission, PSAC for short, has met three times since October 20 to go over 30 applications for the Nome Police Chief position, a job that became vacant with last week’s retirement of Chief Mike Heintzelman.

In the interim, Deputy Chief Will Crockett is the acting police chief.

City Manager Glenn Steckman said in an interview with the Nugget that the PSAC has reviewed the applications and began interviewing candidates. The panel has narrowed down the list to seven semi-finalists and they are still in the process of interviewing candidates.

Once there are two to four candidates entering the final round, the Nome Common Council will be invited to interview the final applicants for the job. This would ideally be done in person. Steckman said it will be difficult to bring candidates to Nome in the first half of December as people get busy with the holiday season, so interviews may not be conducted until January.

All interviews will be done in executive session. The city manager will then recommend a candidate, and the council will act on the recommendation.

As for other vital positions open at the city, Steckman said that the Port Director job will be advertised again because the city didn’t get a sufficient number of resumes in.

He hopes to begin interview sometime this or next week candidates for the city clerk’s position. The city has received ten applications for the job.

Other jobs still needing to be filled, Steckman said, are accounting technicians, police dispatchers, police officers, and an executive assistant to the city manager. “We advertise here, but we’re not getting any real response,” Steckman said.

Photo by Diana Haecker BURNED— A suspicious fire consumed Randy Oles’ shed and partially burned the wall of his house on Steadman, on Tuesday night. The police are investigating a series of suspicious fires that occurred in the area over a span of a few weeks.