Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings says he expects he'll make his pick for the city's next police chief by the end of next month. He'll hold one-on-one interviews with the four nominees in the next couple of weeks, but not before speaking for the first time with those men and women who are responsible for nominating them. Our Britt Godshalk has been following the process since the very beginning and has the story.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- "This started five months ago," said James Campbell, a member of the Albany Police Chief Selection Committee. "And during that five months we reviewed 48 resumes and we had 17 meetings."

Make that 18. But the meeting on Monday was with Mayor Jerry Jennings, the man in charge of taking over the search for Albany's next police chief.

"He wanted to listen to the members of the committee to see if we could help him get ready for the interviewing process," said Hon. Larry Rosen, the committee chair.

"Walking out of that room, is there one or two candidates who are leading the pack out of the four?" our reporter asked Jennings. "I can't deduce that right now," he said. "I just have the resumes in front of me and some minimal background information from the committee. That's why I'm going to reach out to the individual committee members, get their own impressions of the interviews and go a little further than they did in terms of vetting the candidates."

Jennings says the list of what he's looking for in a new chief includes an understanding of urban policing and a willingness to work alongside the mayor as a teammate.

"I'm going to talk to the mayor individually, I think," said Alan Lizotte, another committee member.

"And I'll make a decision hopefully by the end of May," said Jennings.

And once the mayor makes his pick, the process doesn't end there. For the first time in the city's history, because of a change of the city charter, the common council will have to veto or confirm the mayor's choice.

Council President Carolyn McLaughlin and Councilman Dan Herring are the only search committee members who also sit on the council. A source tells YNN that several of their fellow council members favor Krokoff. Councilman Ron Bailey, for one.

"And that person may still come to that conclusion at the end," said McLaughlin. "But give yourself the opportunity to hear all the information on all of the candidates."

For more on the search process and the finalists visit our APD Chief Search section>>.