SANTA MARIA - Each screening panel will consist of 4 or 5 people chosen by City Manager Rick Haydon with input from his staff.
Some panelists were recommended, others were selected.
One of the two panels will be community-based.
"They came recommended as well, some people are known to him (Haydon), they are in the community", says assistant city manager Alicia Lara, "it's a combination of community members and community partners."
The other panel is made of up what's being called "subject matter experts" from neighboring cities and counties.
"He's selected a combination of chiefs of police and city managers that will help to give him a good recommendation", Lara adds.
The two panels will interview the 5 to 8 final police chief candidates in an undisclosed location in Santa Maria next week.
The identity of the panel members, and the candidates, will not be released to the public.
"We want to protect the integrity of the process", Lara says, "we want to make sure the panel members can be candid with the city manager about their observations, releasing their names kind of puts a chill on what they may or may not say."
The city says it has received sufficient feedback from the community in the past few months about what it would like to see in a new police chief, including online surveys and two public workshops in English and Spanish.
Of the 5 to 8 candidates that are interviewed by the two panels, the finalists will most likely face another, final round of interviews before City Manager Haydon makes his decision which he has said he would like to do by early next year.
