July 8, 2009 - 10:14 a.m. EST

CARO — On Monday evening, the Caro Village Council approved an advisory committee to continue the search for a new police chief.

Caro’s current chief, Benson Page, will retire from his village post in mid-September.

An Advisory Committee composed of members of the Caro community will weigh in on the chief’s selection process. That committee includes: Dick Pouliot, Joe Greene and Tom Striffler from the Caro Village Council, Ariana Heath from the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office, Neil Beckwith from Caro Community Schools, Fred Galsterer of Caro, Mark Ransford of Ransford Funeral Home, Diane List of List Psychological and Don Beavers, Caro Village Manager.

“They are all village residents and meet as much of the criteria as we could,” said Beavers to the council Monday evening.

On Thursday, the new nine-member advisory committee will have an orientation with Jerry Boles, the former Chief of Police for the City of Lansing and a former instructor at Michigan State University’s Criminal Justice Institute. Boles is now serving as a consultant to the village. He is a member of the Advisory Committee, but does not get a vote in the selection process.

“On Monday the 13th, we will have a public forum where the advisory committee will listen to the people on what they think should be looked for in a new chief,” said Beavers.

The public forum will be hosted at the Tuscola Technology Center, 1401 Cleaver Rd. on July 13 at 7 p.m.

After the public forum, the Advisory Committee will draft a job announcement and prepare other materials for those submitting resumes. Once the resumes have been received, the Committee will review the applicants and decide which ones are to be interviewed.

Interviews will be conducted by the Advisory Committee sometime in late September. The Council will then review the Committee’s recommended top candidates. At that point, the Council would then decide if negotiations on an economic package should begin between the village representatives and the finalist.

After negotiations are completed, the Council would then approve or reject the proposed economic package with the finalist. At that time, a new chief would be officially hired or the search process would continue.