St. Joseph city manager Bryan Carter recently gave an update on the city's search for a new permanent chief of police. Photo by Tommy Rezac. By TOMMY REZACSt. Joseph PostThe city of St. Joseph officially opened its search for a new police chief on February 24.The city hired Public Sector Search & Consulting, a search firm that specializes in conducting national level recruitment for police executives.St. Joseph city manager Bryan Carter says the job application for the city police chief will remain posted until April 3."Our search and recruiting firm has the job posted," Carter said on KFEQ's The Hotline. "They're receiving applications and reaching out to the resources they have to identify potential applicants who may not have identified themselves, and then get a good candidate list that they can bring back to us locally. After April 3, (the firm) will do their process to get the candidate list narrowed."Chris Connally retired as St. Joseph's police chief last September after serving 17 years in the role. Dave Hart has served as interim chief in the meantime.In order to find the best possible fit for Connally's permanent successor, Carter says input was sought from the community through online surveys and stakeholder meetings."(The community feedback) will definitely be heavily involved," Carter noted. "They'll help us make sure we get it right, and that we get all of the voices that we need to get involved, that want to get involved and that we have the best possible police chief we can attract." The firm, Public Sector Search & Consulting, is specially designed for searches like these, according to Carter."They've helped numerous cities around the country," he said. "They've developed a good book of candidates. They've done searches all over, so they know who the No. 2 was at all of these other searches."Carter says the city hopes to have a permanent police chief announced by Memorial Day weekend. It's a long and thorough process to hire this one position, but Carter says it's the most important hire the city may ever make at any given time."We're trying to balance that line of being aggressive, getting that long-term certainty, while also getting this right," Carter reaffirmed. "There's not a much more important hire that will happen in this community across any industry. It's one we have to get right."You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.