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Posted on Mon, Jan 9, 2012 : 5:55 a.m.

Saline expected to choose search firm for new police chief at Monday meeting

By Lisa Allmendinger

The search for a new police chief in Saline may take a step forward tonight as the City Council is expected to choose a professional search firm to assist it in finding Chief Paul Bunten’s successor.

Lee Bourgoin_Paul Bunten.JPG

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

Bunten will retire this month while interim Chief Mike Lindman transitions into his temporary position and takes over the day-to-day operations of the department during the search.

City Manager Todd Campbell said finding the right person for this position is “vitally important. It is critical to conduct a high quality search,” in a memo to the City Council.

He solicited proposals from two professional search firms — a company called Career Directions as well as the Michigan Municipal League. He’s recommending Career Directions because of its expertise in police chief searches and its fees.

Campbell said he contacted three cities — including Ypsilanti, which has used Career Directions for police chief searches. Career Directions also worked with Ann Arbor when former Police Chief Dan Oates was chosen. The firm's bid for the job is $6,000.

In addition, Jim Peters, Jim Roth and Linda TerHaar will be sworn-in by Judge Tim Connors following their election to the City Council in November.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.

Comments

Common Sense

Mon, Jan 9, 2012 : 12:43 p.m.

I don't understand why the small city of Saline needs to spend $6,000 for a search firm to find a new police chief, especially in these hard economic times. I know that we have very competent officers currently on staff and certainly one of them could be promoted to be our new chief. Isn't that what we elect the Mayor and City Council to do??? The $6,000 could be better spent for local services, roads, etc.!!!