Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990                   TAG: 9003032955
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COUNTY RECEIVES 129 APPLICATIONS FOR CHIEF'S JOB

The applications "look like a good mix," said Keith Cook, county personnel director.

The applicants included people from the Roanoke Valley, Southwest Virginia, across the state and the country, Cook said. Four county sheriff's deputies also applied, sources said.

The chief is being hired to head up law-enforcement activities in the county because voters in November approved a referendum calling for creation of a police department.

County officials plan to have the department begin operating July 1, and have said they hope to hire the new chief by May 1. But County Administrator Elmer Hodge said Thursday that the hiring process may take longer than anticipated.

"It's going to go as quickly as it can, but it's going to be a fair, thorough process," Hodge said.

Hodge said the screening process will begin in the county Personnel Department, which will compare the applicants with the guidelines in the advertisement for chief. "Those that obviously don't qualify will be taken out," he said.

The rest will be sent to an advisory committee Hodge established to help him select the chief.

The committee will rank those applications and give Hodge its top 10 choices, the county administrator said.

Those 10 finalists will then participate in an assessment conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Evaluators will rank the finalists and present Hodge with those names. The county administrator then will interview the top finalists and make his choice.