Are pulpit committees biblical?

There is a huge dispute going on in our church right now; we were supposed to be getting a new pastor as ours is retiring. Our associate pastor stepped up and they told him that they needed to be sure this was the way we were going because a few years ago we were left without a pastor and no one to step up. Normally when we make decisions we vote on them as a church (things like improvements, or new members, and even the associate pastor) but I had never heard that it was necessary to vote on the pastor. I thought the pastor was able to choose who would follow him and so did our associate pastor. The pulpit committee is making the argument that when Paul was choosing a pastor he had the church vote on him but the associate pastor told me that Paul picked the pastor himself and that the problem with pulpit committees is that they aren't biblical at all when it comes down to this. Does anyone know anything about this? The whole situation seems a little mixed up to me and some scripture or knowlegde on this would be appreciated!