SIMI VALLEY : More Than 50 Apply for Police Chief Job

More than 50 police officers from California and other states have filed applications to become Simi Valley’s new chief of police, Assistant City Manager Mike Sedell said Thursday.

A Northern California headhunting firm will begin screening the applicants’ resumes next week for the best candidate, Sedell said.

The City Council hired Hughes, Perry & Associates to recommend a top candidate after Chief Willard R. Schlieter resigned in March.

Schlieter, the former chief of police in Urbana, Ill., was found a year earlier by a city-run search. He quit the Simi Valley post amid accusations that he was a weak commander, and City Manager Lin Koester appointed Capt. Richard Wright acting chief.

Hughes, Perry & Associates of Sea Ranch plans to send out intensive questionnaires to the more qualified candidates and interview them between June 12-23.

The firm will choose eight top candidates by the week of June 26 and send them to interviews with a panel of city and police officials and community members.

That panel will weed out all but the top four finalists, who then will be interviewed between July 3-7 by the city manager, the mayor and the mayor pro tem.

The following week, city staff and Ventura County sheriff’s staff will run reference checks on the top finalists. And by July 21, the city manager is scheduled to name the new chief, the firm’s schedule says.

The Simi Valley police chief’s job carries an annual salary of $79,039 to $100,867.