Every now and then the City of Somerville is confronted with the task of finding replacements for key positions in its leadership structure.

Interestingly, at this particular moment two very important slots are in need of filling: Chief of Police and School Superintendent. Suitable candidates have been located and interviewed, and yet, as of this reporting, the searches continue.

Last week the Somerville School Committee voted to reopen the application process for a new Superintendent of Schools. The School Committee hopes to select a new Superintendent by July, in time for the new school year.

In January, the School Committee announced three finalist candidates who were selected from a pool of 27 applicants. After one finalist removed themselves from consideration, and the Committee declined to offer the position to either of the two remaining candidates.

Meanwhile, the community was invited to join two public listening sessions for the Somerville Police Chief recruitment led by GovHR, the national executive staffing firm the city has selected to conduct the search.

One of the sessions already took place on Tuesday of this week, while the next one will be held on Thursday, March 9. Details on how to participate in the session will be announced in the coming days.

It’s gratifying to see how seriously the city takes its responsibility to hire the best talent available, and to take extra measures to make sure they’ve made the best possible choices. We’d like to think we’d do the same if we were in the same position.