A former administrator with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation will be the next Tonganoxie police chief.

After a 10-minute executive session Tuesday evening, Tonganoxie City Council members voted unanimously to hire Jeff Brandau of Topeka as police chief, pending signing of an employee agreement.

Mayor Jason Ward, who voted with council members Paula Crook, Chris Donnelly and Jim Truesdell to hire Brandau, said the 54-year-old former KBI agent’s résumé was impressive.

“I think his extensive background with the KBI and the fact he had patrol experience with the Salina Police Department and his very extensive background in narcotics investigations all stood out,” he said.

Brandau sold a successful fertilizer business he started to become a patrolman with the Salina Police Department in 1982. He rose to become a sergeant with that department before becoming a special agent with the KBI in 1988. He became a resident special agent assigned to Junction City in 1991 and a special agent supervisor in 1994.

He was promoted to special agent in charge of the KBI’s East Regional Special Operations Division in 1996.

In 2008, Brandau was named the KBI’s administrative special agent in charge. He acted as the bureau’s legislative liaison and was in charge of its training and internal affairs.

He retired from the KBI in 2009 and has worked with the consulting firm Cubic Applications Inc., a job that took him earlier this year to Afghanistan to mentor Marines developing the Afghan National Security Forces.