SPARKS — After several years of ups and downs for Sparks police chiefs, the City Council is aiming to hire someone permanent.

Sparks City Manager Shaun Carey has asked that acting Police Chief Steve Keefer be placed in the post of permanent police chief. The 20-year department veteran has been acting as the leader of the organization since October 2009 when then Chief Steve Asher resigned.

In the year before Asher, Keefer also filled the function of acting police chief. Keefer filled the temporary post between the retirement of former Chief John Dotson in August 2008 and Asher’s hiring in November 2008. Dotson served as police chief for 15 years before retiring.

If Keefer gets the position permanently, he will be earning $135,688 per year along with a car allowance. His current salary is $130,850, which includes a 10 percent pay increase from what he was making as deputy police chief to compensate for the added responsibilities.

“There has been an expectation that the city needs a permanent police chief,” city spokesman Adam Mayberry said of the possible promotion. “The increased costs of the chief’s salary for the fiscal year is a manageable expense.”

The final decision on Keefer’s hiring will come after a Monday vote by the City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting. According to city charter, police chiefs must be appointed by the city manager and approved by the council.

Filling the police chief post would mean unfreezing it. The position, along with its salary, has been in a frozen state while the city battles its budget storm. If Keefer were appointed, his current position as deputy police chief would be frozen, leaving no backup leader if Keefer were to resign. According to Mayberry, the deputy police chief position would be unfrozen in fiscal year 2010 and 2011, at which time an officer could be promoted to the post.

“The city manager has had the opportunity to work with Deputy Chief Keefer very closely during this difficult fiscal period and to evaluate his performance in a senior leadership role,” Carey wrote in a staff report on Keefer’s appointment. “Steve is well prepared to successfully lead the Sparks Police Department into the future and he is supported by the men and women in the department. Filling this position now will ensure that the police department continues to move forward with an effective management team that is making a difference.”