On Thursday morning, the public can meet the five candidates who have been certified by the city’s Civil Service Commission as qualified to be the city’s next police chief.
The public reception for the five candidates will be held at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, 30 16th Ave. SW, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
The five candidates are: Joseph D’Agostino, 49, police captain in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Kenneth Graham, 46, deputy police chief in Ocala, Fla.; Jeff Hadley, 37, police captain in Fort Wayne, Ind.; and two Cedar Rapids police captains, Steve O’Konek, 46, and Bernie Walther, 47.
City Manager Jim Prosser, along with Mo Sheronick, assistant city attorney, and Conni Huber, human resources director, will interview the candidates on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The interviews are closed to the public.
An initial group of seven candidates interviewed in front of a seven-member panel and the public earlier this month. Videotapes of those interviews can be seen by going to www.neighborhoodnetworknews.com
The Civil Service Commission ranked the five candidates it certified in this order: O’Konek, Graham, Hadley, D’Agostino and Walther.
Prosser has said he hopes to hire a new chief by early May and have him on the job a month later.