EPHRATA — Ephrata Mayor Chris Jacobson appointed a seven-member committee to review applications for police chief.

Current Police Chief Joe Varick is retiring at the end of March and the city hired Prothman, a Seattle-based recruiting firm, to collect applications for his replacement.

Jacobson appointed a committee consisting of councilmembers Kathleen Allstot and Ben Davis, City Administrator Wes Crago, Varick, Ephrata officer Patrick Canady, citizens Chris Harrison and Chris Youngberg.

“The committee will be looking through the selection of semi-finalists next week,” Crago said. “We’ll possibly, as warranted, do interviews with the semi-finalists. We hope to have the finalists selected by the end of February.”

Of the 29 applicants for the position, 21 of them are from outside of Washington state, he said. The city plans to conduct final interviews by the second week in March.

“Which probably tells you something about the relative strength of Washington’s economy and the job market here compared to other states,” he said. “If a large percentage of the finalists are from out of state that’s probably slow down our background check.”

The best case scenario would put the final selection at about the same time Varick would leave office, Crago said at a previous meeting. This would create a seamless transition.

“If that’s not able, of this depends on the finalist that’s selected and (his or her) schedule, we may need to be looking at several other contingency plans,” he said. “We’ll know that more when we get closer to March.”

The position pays between $65,000 and $80,000.

The city started advertising for the position on Dec. 16 and stopped accepting applications on Sunday.