Bay St. Louis Police Chief Search Nears End

After months of interviews and evaluations, Bay St. Louis Mayor Les Fillingame is ready to announce a new police chief, but he’ll have to wait a little while longer.
Fillingame wanted to reveal his choice during tonight’s City Council meeting, but council members denied his request to add the announcement to the agenda at such short notice.
The mayor reviewed nearly two dozen applications and interviewed around six different candidates before narrowing it down to his final choice. “After that we set a time where he had the opportunity to sit down with each of our councilmen, individually, in person, and spend several hours with each of them, doing their own interviews, asking their own questions and getting their own comfort for him being the right candidate. I think after that which was really the last interview with the candidate was today, earlier today, and I think after that, the comfort level was there,” said Mayor Fillingame.
The new chief will replace the late Mike DeNardo who passed away in September.
Mayor Fillingame says his choice is a long-time Coast resident who has worked with a state agency for many years. He hopes to announce the new chief during a special meeting in the near future.