POULSBO — There’s a familiar face in the Poulsbo police chief’s office.

Former deputy police chief Shawn Delaney, who left the department amid cutbacks in 2010, is serving as public safety director until a new police chief is hired. City human resources manager Deanna Kingery said Delaney role is that of director and not chief because he is no longer a sworn officer; he is a civilian in charge of the police department.

Delaney will be paid a monthly rate similar to the monthly salary of his predecessor, Al Townsend, who resigned March 14. He will receive no benefits.

Townsend’s annual salary when he left office was $125,197, Kingery said.

Delaney took office March 21, Finance Director Deb Booher said. A police chief recruitment is expected to take place but the council had not budgeted funds for the recruitment process as of March 16, she said.

Delaney took office one week after Townsend resigned following intense media and public scrutiny of his relationship with a female police officer and his department’s handing of a DUI involving a sheriff’s sergeant.

City Council member Ed Stern, on behalf of Mayor Pro Tem Jeff McGinty and the council — Mayor Becky Erickson is out for the week on a family emergency — said he visited Delaney on March 22, welcomed him and told him he has the council’s support.

Stern said Erickson advised the council March 16 in executive session, which is closed to the public, that she had brought Delaney in to serve as public safety director. The mayor has the authority to make personnel decisions; some decisions are made with the “advise and consent” of the council, and some involve the council’s involvement in an interview process, Stern said. “But given the emergency nature, she unilaterally acted and she has my full support.”

Delaney served as Poulsbo’s deputy chief from 2008-10. He and then-Chief Dennis Swiney (pronounced Sweeney) had worked together at the Visalia (California) Police Department. Delaney was one of 13 employees who applied for the voluntary separation program that was offered in 2010 in order to reduce staffing during some municipal belt-tightening. The deputy police chief position was restored a year later.

At the time of his departure, a resident wrote in a letter to the editor of the Herald: “I, as a citizen of this city, say thank you [to Deputy Chief] Delaney for making the decision that will allow a patrol officer to remain on the streets of Poulsbo serving the community. It is very disheartening to think that our City Council would have had to make a decision to layoff an additional field police officer, thereby jeopardizing our safety and security. We should all thank Delaney for making a selfless and magnanimous decision that allows us to retain both the level of police protection and community involvement that we, the citizens and business community of Poulsbo, have grown to appreciate and expect over a number of years. Thank you, Deputy Chief.”