NATCHEZ — Nearly five months after former Police Chief Mike Mullins retired, the Natchez mayor and board of aldermen will meet to interview his potential permanent replacements.

Mayor Jake Middleton said the board is scheduled to meet with and interview three police chief candidates Thursday, starting at 4 p.m. The interviews will each last 30 minutes, he said.

Who the candidates are, however, Middleton would not disclose, saying that they all have jobs and he would not want to jeopardize their employment.

Once the interviews are over, the board will likely discuss the merits of the three candidates, but will not be able to hire a chief until the board has an official meeting.

The police chief’s position has been filled by an interim, Danny White, since Mullins retired. Middleton said the board hasn’t hired a permanent replacement because they were dealing with other issues.

“The casino deal threw us behind, and then we were in the process of hiring an IT director at the same time,” Middleton said.

“I wanted the time we spent (on the hire) to be devoted to the subject we were working on.”

Middleton said when the new chief would start would depend on how much of a notice he or she had to give his or her current employers.

“We thought we might have (a chief) hired by March, and we will hopefully have one hired and in place by mid-April,” he said.

“Obviously, if it was somebody locally in the police department, that wouldn’t be a problem.”

White has previously said he is one of the candidates for the job.

The next regularly scheduled alderman meeting is April 3.