The Guthrie Center Police Department looks to be one step closer to filling its current vacancy and getting back to a two-man department.

Officer Rod Pavelka tells Raccoon Valley Radio that a conditional offer has been made to a recently interviewed candidate and that offer has been accepted.  However, the candidate is not a previously certified police officer and must go through a psychological test before he is officially added to the GCPD payroll.

Pavelka says the candidate has already passed his Police Officer Selection Test (POST), but he must now pass a psychometric test commonly known as the MMPI, which stands for Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.  If this test is passed, Pavelka hopes to have the new officer join his department on Tuesday of next week.

Pavelka says he’d like the new officer to start “as soon as possible” once he gets final approval from Mayor Denny Kunkle and City Administrator Laura Imerman.