POULSBO — Poulsbo will begin its search for a new chief of police by June 15.

After the June 1 City Council meeting, Mayor Becky Erickson told the Herald that the city will be taking a different approach to recruitment than in the past.

“We’re not going to hire an executive recruitment firm to do it for us,” she said. “We are going to try and do the searching and vetting ourselves.”

The city will be taking another step that the mayor considers novel.

“We’re going to ask for help,” she said. “All of the police chiefs in the area know each other. We’re going to ask them who are some of the people they might suggest we consider.

“We are also going to ask them for advice, based on their own experiences, as to how we might best go about avoiding recurrence of the kind of problems we experienced recently.”

This was in reference to incidents of unprofessional conduct that led to the resignation of the previous Poulsbo police chief, Alan Townsend. Townsend resigned March 14, writing in a statement released by the mayor’s office that “I have become a distraction to the city and more specifically the police department.”

He referred to the department’s handling of a DUI involving a Kitsap County sheriff’s officer; and an incident in which Townsend was found alone in his darkened office late at night with a female officer.

As an emergency measure, the mayor, with the support of the City Council, hired former deputy police chief Shawn Delaney, who left the department amid cutbacks in 2010, to serve as public safety director until a new police chief was hired.

City human resources manager Deanna Kingery said Delaney’s role was that of director and not chief because he was no longer certified by the State of Washington as a police officer; he was a civilian in charge of the police department.

Delaney took office March 21.

”Shawn stepped in and has done a great job for us. An outstanding job,” Erickson said.

Deputy Chief Andy Pate said Delaney has been focused on bringing stability and calm to a team roiled by Townsend’s abrupt departure.

“The sudden loss of a chief is always a tough change,” Pate said. “People feel insecure, wondering what the new person’s going to be like and what changes they’ll bring.”

Delaney has made “superficial changes” since taking office, avoiding “making major changes so that the incoming chief can make them on their own.”

When asked if he was interested in applying for the position of chief, Pate’s answer was “No.”

Delaney said he will not be a candidate for police chief. He wants to go back to doing background investigation work for agencies that are recruiting employees, and he is “looking forward to working with the new chief and assisting with the transition.”