A Seattle assistant police chief and a division chief in the King County Sheriff's Office are among the six finalists to replace Bellevue Police Chief Jim Montgomery.

Montgomery, a former King County sheriff, retired in May after 10 years as chief. Bellevue Deputy Chief Linda Pillo is serving as interim chief and is also a finalist for the permanent job.

The candidates are being interviewed today and Thursday by panels of city department heads, police union members, police staff and residents. On Thursday night, the public will have a chance to meet the finalists at a City Hall reception.

The six candidates:

• Nicholas Metz, Seattle assistant police chief, heads up the department's investigations bureau. He has worked for the Seattle department since 1983, starting as an officer.

• Denise Turner is chief of the King County Sheriff's Office technical-services division. She has worked for the Sheriff's Office since 1981, starting as a reserve officer.

• Pillo is the Bellevue deputy chief for the support-services division. She started her police career in 1979 as a Mercer Island officer and moved to the Bellevue department in 1986.

• Stavros Anthony is a captain with the Las Vegas police department, where he started as an officer in 1980.

• Todd Wuestewald is the police chief in Broken Arrow, Okla., a suburb of Tulsa with about 92,000 people.

• Kenneth Graham is the deputy police chief for Ocala, Fla., a Central Florida city of about 52,000 people. He has worked at the Ocala department since 1983, starting as an officer.

Bellevue City Manager Steve Sarkozy, Deputy City Manager Brad Miyake and Human Resources Director Yvonne Tate chose the finalists last week from 10 semifinalists. After this week's interviews, Sarkozy is expected to choose a chief next month.

The public reception is from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com