By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph will be looking for a new police chief, soon.
Chief Chris Connally retires at the end of this week. Commander Dave Hart takes over on an interim basis.
City Manager Bryan Carter says the search for Connally’s replacement hasn’t started yet.
“Police Chief is one of the highest profile, if not the highest profile, position in the community,” Carter says. “So, it’s something that’s going to be important. We’re going to have a lot of feedback on that selection process as it goes forward.”
Carter says he will not rush the search to replace Connally, who has served as chief since 2006.
“Chief Connally has been at it for nearly 17 years,” Carter says. “So, it’s a decade-and-a-half of big shoes to fill. Certainly wishing him the best as he goes on, but hate losing him.”
Carter points out Connally even helped out during times the city looked for a new city manager, twice serving as interim city manager.
“Chief Connally took the lead in the city on the administrative side and got us through until we were able to get a new city manager hired.”
Carter says he plans to take time in choosing a replacement. Carter says he needs to consider how best to go about filling the position. He says the city will spend more time defining the process before actually beginning the search.
“And, defining the process, we’re probably looking at a few weeks. I want to get some input before we actually initiate that, the actual search process,” Carter says. “In the meantime, we’re going to have current Commander, Dave Hart, as interim police chief. I’ve work with Commander Hart for a number of years and am confident he’ll do an excellent job in that role.”
Hart joined the St. Joseph Police Department in 1999. He is a native of St. Joseph.