Going back out for another round of seeking applicants for the job of Escalon Police Chief appears to have paid off, with a multitude of applications coming in.

“We had 18 applicants, and three were from out of state,” said Interim City Manager Tammy Alcantor. “This was most definitely a bigger pool.”

Escalon City Council members will be going through the applications, as will Alcantor and former City Manager Henry Hesling, who still occasionally consults with the city on various projects.

“We will put together our lists of who we think should be interviewed,” Alcantor explained, noting that the council, she and Hesling will each bring forward their choices and move on from there, seeing which candidates make all three lists.

Then, the whittled down pool of finalists will be brought in for face-to-face meetings.

“We are targeting for interviews by a professional panel on Feb. 20,” Alcantor said. “Then the council and I will meet with them on Feb. 24.”

The goal, she said, is to have a decision by that last week of February, after meeting with the finalists, and offering a position by the end of the month. A targeted hire date of April 1 has been set, with the final candidate having to pass through background checks and other administrative red tape before being brought on board.

“Our intention is that we will interview six to eight of the applicants at least,” Alcantor said. “We have to make sure they submitted everything we requested, have the qualifications.”

The city has been without a permanent chief since Doug Dunford left the position and he was serving in a dual capacity as police chief and interim city manager then. He was replaced by interim chief Jim Shaw, who came on board in a temporary role, and current acting chief is Milt Medeiros, a longtime department member.