The Troy City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to appointed Capt. Randall Barr police chief.

Barr will succeed Chief Jimmy Ennis, who announced in March that he will retire Sept. 30.

Ennis said he had great confidence in Barr and the job he will do while police chief.

“The council had two excellent candidates,” Ennis said. “I think they made a good choice. I think he’ll be good for the department. The department will continue on. We have good people I expect for that to continue.”

Barr and Capt. Danny Barron, both members of the Troy Police, interviewed during a special meeting of the council on Friday.

Troy City Council President Johnny Witherington said he had no doubt Barr would be able to do the job well.

“The City of Troy is very fortunate that we have such two capable people to apply for this position,” Witherington said. “It is my opinion based on Capt. Barr’s past experience both fulfilling positions internally form a staff point and patrol for now that the would be the best prepared candidate to assume the police chief position on Oct. 1.”

Barr, who has worked with the department since 1989, has managed the patrol division; created and managed a training program; and in recent months has assisted with management responsibilities in other departments as well.

“I would like to see our department to continue to grow,” Barr said. “We are in a good place. It’s taken a lot of effort to get to this point. I think that it’ll be a challenge to keep the best trained and the best equipment and stay ahead of technology and be able to move the department forward. I see that being a great challenge.”

Barr said he expected and hoped to benefit from the time he has with Ennis before his retirement in October.

“I think it’s a great advantage,” Barr said. “We’ve worked together closely over the years and he’s a great friend of mine. I think he’s to be commended for the great job he’s done. I think it’s big shoes to fill in that role to pick it up and move it forward in the future.”

Troy Mayor Jason Reeves said the council had been very fortunate to have two capable and willing candidates for chief of police and that had made the decision that much harder to make.

“I am excited that we were able to not only find one candidate but two candidates from within,” Reeves said. “You always want to grow your own leadership and the fact that we had two outstanding candidates says a lot for our police department. I have known and worked with Capt. Barr for many years. I have a great deal of trust and confidence in him and look forward to working with him in the future.”

The vote was not without controversy, though.

Dejerilyn Henderson, District 5, said while she felt Barr was qualified for the position Troy could have taken the chance to look elsewhere for a chief in order to provide a fresh face and new perspective on things within the department and the city.

“I feel like at this point and this stage in the City of Troy, throughout the State of Alabama and throughout the United States, we have so many issues that our communities that are facing that I feel like having a fresh face from somewhere may could help improve situations, not just for here in the City of Troy,” Henderson said.

Henderson said she was not disappointed with the decision the council had made, but did say she was disappointed that there had not been more discussion among the council members on a nomination for the position.

“I’m not disappointed with the process, I’m disappointed with the fact that an email was sent out nominating someone and secondly I feel like not enough thorough discussion went into place among the council members themselves so that consideration could have been given to possibly look on the outside,” Henderson said. “I think when you keep everything internal, you’re limiting yourself.”