Baxter Interviewing For New Police Chief Tuesday

Baxter officials will interview six candidates on Tuesday as it searches for a new Police Chief to replace Danny Holmes.

Baxter Mayor John Martin said he hopes to make a selection following the interviews and announce the new hire on Thursday. He said the pool of applicants includes internal candidates and a few out-of-towners. He said the city has leaned on MTAS to steer the process.

“MTAS kind of ranked the different individuals who they felt like was a head above the other,” Martin said. “So they gave us all of those recommendations and then the board will look at that through the interviewing process, and then they’ll make their decision.”

Martin said rather than promoting an interim temporarily, the department has relied on everyone to pick up the slack after Danny Holmes resigned. He said he looks forward to finding the department a new leader but said the new hire will have big shoes to fill.

“There’s no acting interim,” Martin said. “We’ve got two lieutenants who have really taken over right now as far as running our department for the time being until we get a new full-time chief.”

Martin said MTAS was able to reach a broader range of applicants than the board would have been able to. He said he believes in promoting from within, but if an outsider proves to be the best candidate, the board may go in that direction.