ARDMORE, OK - City officials in Ardmore say they could have a new police chief in place in as few two months. Committee members continue to review the current candidates for the job. Austin Wright has more.

Only 6 applicants remain, and city officials say they plan to thoroughly review each of them before deciding who's best for the job.

Barbara Hill, director of human resources for the City of Ardmore, has a difficult task ahead of her.

"We've got the applications down to six excellent, excellent candidates. Based on the resumes we received it was almost impossible to see who would come out on top," Hill says.

Those six applicants are all gunning for the job of Ardmore Police Chief.

A special committee made up of civilians and city officials reviewed each candidate's resume and will be pushing the six that made it this far on to the next round.

"We scheduled all the face-to-face interviews. We had a team that conducted the interviews with a set of very specific questions, so that it was fair and they were all asked the same questions."

The applicant chosen to lead the force will then go through an extensive background check to make sure that they are indeed the right person for the job. If that comes back clean, the new hire will relieve the interim Ardmore Police Chief, Gary Adams, who was appointed temporarily following the resignation of former Chief of Police David Leonardo.

Hill says the controversy that surrounded Leonardo's departure prompted a new approach in the department's hiring procedures.

"From some of the issues that came up with the last chief, it may have made us look at some different characters in the next chief that we choose," Hill says.

City officials say they could have a new chief within the next two months.

Right now city officials are unable to release the names of the applicants but they say five are from Oklahoma, and the sixth is from Texas.