FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Fairhope could have a new police chief as early as June 22.

That is the day when the City Council is expected to vote on the six candidates it has selected for the city’s top law enforcement job that Interim Police Chief Terry Sanders has held since January.

The council met Monday to discuss the next steps for applicants for that job, which involved whether to interview the applicants in person or by other means, and whether to pay all their travel costs or let them bear some or all of the expense.

“I think the consensus is to bring all (the candidates) in,” Council President Debbie Quinn said. “We need to deal with what we need to ask them and when we want to do it.”

There was some question at the Monday meeting about whether it was a special meeting of the council at which votes could be taken, or a work session, at which votes could not be taken, according to two council members.

“If we vote, I’m leaving,” said Councilman Mike Ford. “I don’t want to be hearing from the Ethics Commission.”

Ford said the meeting was a work session at which votes could not be taken.

But Councilman Lonnie Mixon replied, “No, this is a council meeting.”

Quinn agreed with Ford that it was a work session, and the council agreed to vote formally about the next steps in the police chief selection process at its regular meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.

Based on the discussion Monday, the council is expected to have a day of interviews with the candidates on Saturday, June 20, and then vote on its choice for the job at the regular council meeting on June 22.

The council first discussed June 13 as the possible interview date, but Mayor Tim Kant said he would be out of town that day and wanted to be present, although he would not have a formal vote on the finalists.

The council changed the date of the interviews, which they are expected to hold in open meetings, in order to accommodate the mayor.

“I’d like to be there,” Kant said. “If it’s a really wrong decision, I’d like to let you know what I think.”

Before the council agreed to change the date, Councilman Dan Stankoski said that the search committee, which he organized for the council, had a round of 10 phone interviews with the finalists recently. Kant was one of the members of that committee.

“You weren’t there for any of those (interviews),” Stankoski said.

The council also discussed the kinds of questions it will be asking and the format for doing so.

“It’s a rather structured process,” Stankoski said. “You can’t just ask them anything you want.”

He asked Human Resources Director Rhonda White to explain the type of questions that can be asked legally, and how to keep the process on a level playing field for all the candidates.

White said the phone interviews were conducted by one search committee member, asking the same questions to each, but with the possibility of asking appropriate follow-up questions.

“But you can’t ask them if they’re a family man and have children,” White said.

Ford said, “Why not?”

Councilman Rick Kingrea, an attorney, said, “It’s against the law.”

Kant, who was sitting on the front row of seats in council chambers, but was not a formal member of the meeting offered his opinion.

“Mike, to get around that, you ask them when they graduated college,” Kant said. “But the best ones just come out and tell you their background.”

The council’s meeting took place in front of an audience of about 50 people, with about a dozen holding signs in support of Fairhope Police Capt. Steve Griffis for the chief job.

Griffis did not make the round of 10 finalists to receive a phone interview recently.

Sanders also did not make that list of finalists, but the council decided last Monday to add him to the list of five candidates for the round of interviews. That vote to add Sanders followed Stankoski’s report on the search committee’s work, stating that the results may have been skewed by Kant’s attempted manipulation of the scoring process, resulting in Sanders not making the top 10 list.

At the end of the Monday meeting, Ford said, “since we changed five to six” why not add a seventh person “to let the local boy get in.”

Ford also asked White to provide him with information, including arrest statistics, during the first part of this year, in order to compare the statistics with data from last year. He did not explain why he was seeking that information.

After the meeting, Griffis supporters circulated a petition supporting his candidacy, which Kant and Ford signed.

“There’s about 20 of these floating around town,” said Tony Ross, referring to the petitions. “We’ll present them at the next council meeting. We’ll have a much bigger crowd then.”

Some Griffis supporters were visibly angry that their candidate had not made the list of top-25 candidates from which the list of 10 candidates to receive phone interviews was selected.

Contrary to the position that Kant had skewed the process to keep Sanders off the list, many of these supporters said Stankoski and the council had manipulated the process to keep Griffis, a 25-year veteran of the local police force, off the list of finalists.

“The people ought to know why he’s not a (finalist),” Bobby Clark said.