URBANA, ILL. (WAVY) – Former Norfolk Police Chief is on the verge of becoming the new police chief of Urbana, Illinois.

On the agenda for Urbana City Council’s Monday meeting is a resolution to authorize the execution of a contract for former Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone to become the next police chief of Urbana.

In an attached document to a proposed resolution on appointing Boone to the position, it states that “the attached employment terms and conditions were presented to Mr. Boone; he has accepted and agreed to these.”

It states that his term would begin Monday and continue through June 30, 2025. The city on May 12 made a conditional offer to Boone to be its next police chief. His annual salary, should his appointment be approved, would be $205,000, with an additional $10,000 sign-on bonus should he establish permanent residence in Urbana within six months of the agreement’s execution.

The position in Urbana has been open since last April, when its former police chief, Brant Seraphin, retired.

Urbana’s mayor, Diane Wolfe Marlin, said in submitting Boone’s name to be approved as police chief, cited his 33 years as a law enforcement professional with extensive experience in many operational and administrative positions in Norfolk. It noted that Boone was named officer of the year in Norfolk and nominated a second year, and won a medal of valor from the Virginia Police Work Dog Association.

In an informational packet introducing the resolution, it states that the city interviewed several top candidates in January and February 2023.

“From those interviews, staff and the mayor determined that Mr. Boone was clearly the most qualified, experienced candidate, and that his leadership and law enforcement strategies provided the most-clear fit to those that had been identified during the search,” it stated.

Boone was the only person named as a finalist for the position in April, and after that, city staff, community stakeholders and council members interviewed him, and he participated in two in-person town hall sessions last month.

“From each of these interactions, city staff collected resoundingly positive feedback regarding Mr. Boone’s candidacy as Urbana’s next Chief of Police,” the introduction to the proposed resolution reads.

It states that “based upon interviews, interactions with the candidate and community feedback, the mayor and city staff believe that it is in the best interest of the city and the Urbana community to employ Mr. Boone as the Chief of Police.”

Boone was a finalist to be the police chief in St. Louis, but that job was offered to a former Wilmington, Delaware police chief last December. He had also been in the running to become the police chief in Cincinnati, Ohio, but that job was also offered to another person last December.

In April 2022, City Manager Chip Filer had announced that Boone would retire from the Norfolk Police Department after working there for more than 30 years, five years as chief of police.

Boone, speaking to 10 On Your Side in May 2022 on his retirement as Norfolk police chief, said that “nobody muscles me” and that it was his choice to retire.