The application process for the newly created parish administrator in Jeff Davis Parish has ended with 15 applicants seeking the position.

The goal is to have a parish administrator in place before June 1, according to Kendal Henry, chairperson of the Jeff Davis Parish Administrator Advisory Committee.

The eight-member panel is tasked with finding the parish’s first administrator who will supervise the police jury employees, direct and manage the day-to-day activities of the police jury and assist in establishing strategic direction, policies and procedures for the parish.

The committee launched a search in February to find potential candidates. The application deadline ended March 10 and now the advisory committee is ready to move on to the next step, Henry said.

“We’re going to review all the applications and resumes that were submitted to us,” Henry said. “We want to make sure that they meet all the criteria that we posted on the job application.”

The advisory committee met in executive session Monday to review and rank the applications and establish a timeline for interviews and narrowing down the selection.

“We want to rank and make sure everyone is qualified and weed out the ones that don’t meet the criteria, so we can move the ones that meet all our criteria to the next step,” Henry said. “We are going to go through every application with a fine tooth comb to find the right person for the job.”

The committee hopes to begin scheduling interviews shortly, Henry said.

“We’d like to be able to name someone sooner than later but we are going to go through them and decide who we want to interview and start scheduling interviews as soon as we can,” she said. “It’s a hard task, but hopefully we will come up with the right person because the parish really deserves it.”

“We would love to see someone in place before June 1 but it all depends on where this person is located and where they are at with their current job, if they have to tie up some things,” she continued. “If there’s someone that is willing and ready and we know they are the one, then we will get them hired within the next 60 days. But we need to take our time and make sure we get the right quality candidate for what we are looking for.”

The advisory committee will make its recommendations to the Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury, who will have the final say on hiring the person for the job.

The estimated annual salary for the position is $85,000 to $125,000, depending on qualifications and experience of the applicant.

Henry said she was impressed and pleased with the applications.

“I was excited to have 15 applicants and then I was excited at the quality of some of our applicants,” she said.

Some of the applicants are local, while others are from surrounding states, she said.