An administrative lieutenant from Sturbridge is the lone finalist among five applicants for Tisbury police chief, town administrator Jay Grande told selectmen Thursday morning.

Mark Saloio of Brimfield currently serves as the administrative lieutenant of the Sturbridge police department in western Massachusetts. The department has 20 sworn officers according to its website.

Mr. Saloio will visit Tisbury on Sept. 13 for a public forum and interview with selectmen. (The date was originally set as Sept. 19 and has been moved up).

He has worked in law enforcement since 1994 and holds a master of science degree in criminal justice and an advanced graduate certificate in homeland security from Westfield University, according to his resume. He graduated from Curry College with a degree in sociology in 2008.

The police chief selection committee originally chose two finalists to advance to public interviews, but one of those candidates withdrew their application, Mr. Grande said. 

"There was consideration of a third individual, but they're not proceeding forward, so now we're down to one," Mr. Grande said at the meeting Thursday morning.

Mr. Grande added that the committee considered one Island candidate, but declined to say from what town.

“I would have liked more than one candidate but I absolutely stayed away from the process until this point,” selectman and board chairman Tristan Israel said after the meeting. He added, “I been through enough interview things over the years to know it’s usually rare when you have finalists that one doesn’t drop out for one reason for another.”

Melinda Loberg said she has faith in the selection committee, which included a wide range of people from in and out of town.

“I’m going to have to rely on the process we set up and people we selected to be a part of it,” she said.

Selectmen approved spending up to $3,000 on a background check as part of the process. Mr. Israel said if Mr. Saloio does not meet their qualifications, the search process will begin again.

“If it’s not right, if the board isn’t unanimous about it, then we’ll go to plan B,” he said.

The West Tisbury-based consulting firm Strategic Policy Partnership LLC assisted with the search, with consultant Robert Wasserman leading selection committee meetings and interviews. The five candidates were interviewed by the selection committee earlier this week.

The selection and interview committee, appointed by selectmen in July, included Amy Houghton, John Schilling, Barbara Fortes, Sarah York, Roy Cutrer, Matthew Mincone and Timothy Williamson.

Police chief Daniel Hanavan plans to retire as soon as his successor is selected.