By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER – Managing editor
Brewton city officials have chosen three candidates for Brewton's new police chief to interview next week.
In July, Police Chief David "Mickey" Lovelace announced he would retire effective Oct. 26. Lovelace had served as a member of the police department for 25 years and was named police chief on Feb. 27, 2001.
The Brewton City Council must vote on the new candidate, who in turn must receive a two-thirds approval vote from the council.
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the three candidates will be interviewed. The three men were among 13 applicants who submitted their resume for the available spot and all have extensive backgrounds in law enforcement.
Mayor Ted Jennings confirmed this week that Donnie Nunley, Monte McGougin and Alexis Glover will be the candidates interviewed next week. All three men have a degree in criminal justice and have been working in the law enforcement field for at least 10 years or more.
According to reports, Nunley is a Brewton native and an investigator with the State of Alabama who has worked in law enforcement since 1975. He is retired from the Oakland, Calif., Police Department. McGougin is also a native of Brewton and is currently ranked as a sergeant of investigations with the Escambia County Sheriff's Department. Glover is a former Brewton resident, and currently resides in Washington, D.C., and is a police officer.
Glover and Nunley are not new faces to the police chief search. In fact, this is Glover's third time to apply for the position. Glover originally submitted his resume in the late-90s but Pat Kelley was chosen as the chief. Kelley resigned in 2000 and the search began again. After Kelley's resignation, Glover tried for the second time and was joined with Nunley and Lovelace as the top three candidates among 10 who applied for the position. At that time, Nunley was the assistant chief of police in Atmore. This is McGougin's first time to apply for the police chief position.
In 2001, after council members deadlocked, Lovelace was finally hired as the new police chief on a 4-2 vote, with Councilman Frank Cotten and former Councilman Mervin Huff voting no, and Jennings, who had been voting in favor of Glover eventually casting his vote in favor of Lovelace.
Interviews will take place on Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m. and continuing until the late evening. There was no word on when the council would make a final vote on the new police chief.