FAIRHOPE, Ala. — On Monday, the City Council approved a new job description for the Chief of Police and directed the human resources department to advertise the position, starting today through 5 p.m. March 6.

“We feel there will be plenty (of applicants) to select from,” said Mayor Tim Kant, responding to Councilman Rick Kingrea’s question about whether that time period would be long enough to receive applications. Kant added that if adequate applications had not been received by that time, they could extend the application period.

“Tonight, we submit the updated job description for your approval,” said Vann Saltz, chair of the police chief search committee that developed the job description. The committee analyzed police chief job descriptions in several Alabama cities as they developed the new job description during two committee meetings last week, he said.

During a special meeting on Jan. 22, the council appointed former Bay Minette Police Chief Terry Sanders as interim chief for three months. The council is expected to appoint a permanent police chief before the end of that three-month period. The new chief’s term will last through the next municipal elections in 2012.

Sanders made his first public address to the council Monday night.

“I have met with all (local school) principals,” Sander said, adding he also held his first staff meeting at the police department last week.

The council also added language Monday to the city job application and description that will allow an applicant to request that the application and resumé be kept confidential, but also requires the applicant to state why that request is being made.

City Attorney Marion “Tut” Wynne said the city clerk or city attorney would then determine whether the application should be kept confidential, citing applicable state open records law on the issue.

The current city application for employment requires an applicant to sign a statement that includes the following acknowledgment: “I understand that once I submit this application, the application becomes the property of the city of Fairhope and that my application may be considered a public record subject to disclosure to the public.”

Wynne said the presumption in state open records law is that records are public, and that a city withholding that information bears the burden of establishing the legal exemption that allows the record be kept confidential.

The council had considered designating that all job applications for the police chief position be kept confidential but decided against that approach after a discussion with Wynne about the applicable laws involved.

“Under Alabama law, records and meetings of governmental bodies are open to the public unless there is an applicable exemption,” said Bethany Bolger, a Montgomery attorney and counsel to the Alabama Press Association. “The burden is on the (governmental body) to point to a specific exception in the law if it refuses to disclose resumés of any applicants for a public position. Failure to meet that burden is a violation of the open records law.”

Kant said he believes the media has a right to review job applications in the possession of city government. But he also said there is a need among the media and public to appreciate the desire on some applicants for high-profile jobs to keep their applications private until they reach the round of finalists to keep from jeopardizing their current employment.

“When it gets down to the finalists, (the media) is going to want to (publish that information),” he said.

According to the council, the police chief’s job announcement and position description will be posted today in its entirety at www.cofairhope.com.