SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Officials tell Central Coast News that Santa Maria's new police chief will not be anyone from the Central Coast.
City Manager Rick Haydon says six candidates, all male, came from all across the state. Two screening panels have already completed the first round of interviews.
Haydon says each candidate was interviewed by a technical panel made up of local police chiefs and city managers, as well as a panel of Santa Maria community members. Haydon says he will review comments from each panelist before he decides to invite one or two candidates back for a second interview sometime next month.
While he has complete hiring and firing authority for police chief, Haydon told Central Coast News that he plans to confer with the Santa Maria City Council before he makes a final decision on who the next chief will be.
The new police chief will replace Dan Macagni, who resigned last year in August after being placed on administrative leave following a year of violence that rocked the community. Meantime, Interim Chief Ralph Martin, who is a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Commander, said he was applying for the job. It is unknown if Martin was among the final six candidates interviewed today.
