…And then there were two

Interim Chief Matt Haney and Alexander Perez, chief of police in the city of Inglewood, Calif., are finalists for the top cop job on Bainbridge Island, Mayor Darlene Kordonowy told the City Council on Wednesday.

Haney and Perez emerged as finalists after an open house with council members and citizens, followed by formal interviews last week. A decision is expected later this month.

Kordonowy told the council that Helmut Steele, a Washington State Patrol official, and Anthony Garrett, a retired police chief from Oklahoma, had been informed that they are out of the running.

During the council meeting’s public comment period, Haney was endorsed by islander Wayne Daley, who said he was also representing the Bainbridge Island Sportsmen’s Club. Daley praised Haney’s efforts in working with the club to establish safer practices there. He also commended the interim chief for joining the community through residency; Haney and his wife recently purchased a home in the Commodore Lane neighborhood.

Correction, March 24, 2004: The brief misstated candidate Alexander Perez’s credentials. Perez serves as a lieutenant and criminal investigations division commander with the Inglewood, Calif., Police Department.

– Douglas Crist