The process of looking for a new Decorah Police Chief is getting underway

Decorah City Council members spent 30 minutes Monday night discussing the options they have for the process of hiring a new Police Chief.  Current Police Chief Bill Nixon will retire July 24th.

The key question for most city council members at this point is whether the hiring process should include hiring a consulting firm to help in the process and, if that decision is made, to what extent a consultant should be involved.

City Attorney John Anderson posed the question to city council members Monday night: "How broad a scope do you want to have for finding applicants, or are you confident there are (enough) in-house applicants?"  The wider the scope of applicants sought, the more likely a consultant would be hired.

The city's Personnel Committee will meet some time in the next three weeks, with the goal of making a recommendation to the full Decorah City Council May 20th.  "We'll do some homework," promised City Administrator Chad Bird.