BY JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — The City Council voted unanimously to grant second and final passage to an ordinance governing the hiring of a new police chief Monday, a step that will begin the formal search for a replacement of retired Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle.

The vote of the seven member council came after a debate of Mayor Susan D. Menard’s role in the process as she heads to her own announced retirement in June.
While some members of the panel and members of the public speaking earlier in the evening worried that Menard herself would select the new chief at the end of the process given her existing role as city Public Safety Director, Council President Leo T. Fontaine and Councilman John F. Ward argued for the ordinance as written.
The formalized process covered in the ordinance will provide the best option for selection of a new chief regardless of who makes the appointment, according to Fontaine and Ward.
Ward also argued that the process set forth under the ordinance will require a number of tasks to be completed in the coming weeks making it unlikely that Menard would still be in office when the selection review concludes.
“The selection committee won’t finish the process that fast if the review is done right and done well,” Ward said.
Fontaine also noted that delaying a final vote on the selection process for a new chief would leave the city without the formal involvement of a selection committee in making the appointment of a new chief.
Prior to passage of the ordinance, Menard could have made the choice without any council involvement in that process.
The new ordinance sets a procedure for such selections that requires the creation of a seven-member search committee appointed by the mayor and includes two members of the Council.
The panel will also include two members from the community at large, a member of an outside law enforcement agency, a member of the local police union, and a representative of the mayor.
 The process also calls for a period of advertising for the post, a period for receipt of applications, a period for answering questions on the post and a review of all resumes and applications received from applicants by the Personnel Director to eliminate any that do not possess the minimum qualifications.
 The ordinance also establishes a specific process for evaluating candidates including testing, interviews before the selection committee and a final round of review by the Public Safety Director of the top three candidates and the selection of the new chief from that list.
 The qualifications for the position include a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning in criminal justice, criminology or a related field, and specified skills for the chief such as a demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, and a demonstrated aptitude for police work, supervisory and administrative ability as well as a demonstrated record of the highest ethical and moral standards.
 The ordinance also initially required that the chief candidate hold at least 5 years service in at the administrative rank of lieutenant but that requirement was changed simply to the rank of lieutenant as a recognition of the time of service and qualification needed to achieve that rank.
Some observers of the effort to find Houle’s replacement have suggested that change maybe a concession to the interest State Police Lieutenant Eric Croce may have in continuing in the full-time position following his current State Police assignment as acting chief in Woonsocket.
 State Police Col. Brendan Doherty named Croce to the position on March 5 after first Houle and then Deputy Chief Richard Dubois retired from the position during a controversy breaking out over alleged improprieties in the appointment of Houle’s  ex-wife, Marsha Bish, as a department patrolwoman.
 During the council’s public comment period, former police detectives Todd Brien, Menard’s challenger in November’s election and Edward Roy, a candidate for City Council in the contest, both recommended the 5-year qualification be kept so as to allow a highly qualified candidate to be named as chief.
 That provision was called for in the last management study done on the police department’s operations, Brien noted.
 “Let’s do it right the first time,” Brien said while suggesting the Council could take the time to make a change in the ordinance before awarding it final passage.
“I don’t think we need to push this through,” he said. “Let’s do it the right way one time and have the best candidate for Chief of Police in Woonsocket,” he said.
 Roy said he was worried that the Mayor’s role in setting up the selection committee could give her a say in the process that is not warranted in light of her pending retirement and the police controversies plaguing her administration.
 “To allow the mayor to have a say in this is absurd,” Roy, a frequent critic of Menard, said.
 Fontaine, however, told his fellow council members that he believes the process as written will work in selecting the right candidate for the post.
 “Our goal to have the best qualified individual for this position,” he said. “The department deserves that after all the turmoil of the recent months,” he said.