Mount Airy’s next police chief could be named next week, nearly a month before the present chief officially retires.

However, City Manager Don Brookshire declined to release many details about the situation on Friday, including the total number of people who applied for the post being vacated by Roger McCreary.

“It’s less than 10” is all Brookshire would say. The cutoff point for applications ended several weeks ago.

McCreary, a veteran city police officer who has been chief since February 2007, announced his retirement in June, which is effective Oct. 1.

Brookshire also declined Friday to specify how many of the applicants for the Police Department’s top job are present members of the force and the number seeking the job from outside its ranks.

The last two times Mount Airy has hired a new police chief, the replacement has come from within.

That was true with McCreary, who joined the department in 1981 as a patrolman and advanced in rank from there, as well as the man he replaced, Ronald Hill. Hill was on the city police force a total of 28 years, serving as chief from July 2001 to February 2007.

Hill took over for longtime Chief Leo Shores, who had joined the department in the mid-1980s, coming from Apex, a town near Raleigh.

In a 2006 interview during the process that led to McCreary’s hiring, the city manager said that from a public standpoint, “the Police Department chief is perhaps the most visible and important hire” for a municipality.

“Picking a chief is the highest-profile hire a city manager has to make,” Brookshire added then.

Fire Chief Hiring

Along with trying to get a new police chief in place, Mount Airy is having to replace its fire chief, but that process is less further along in the wake of Benny Brannock’s retirement announcement earlier this month. His departure is effective on the same day as McCreary’s retirement, Oct. 1.

Brookshire said Friday that the application process for that position is still ongoing. “We’ve done internal advertising (for the vacancy) and at the same time we’ve also done it externally,” he said. Friday was the last day “internal folks” could apply, the city manager added.

He lacked a total for those officially seeking the post so far. “I know that a couple of people have been through here inquiring about it, but that’s all I know.”

Brannock, a fourth-generation city firefighter who joined the Mount Airy Fire Department in 1981, has been its chief since April 2002.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.