By JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — The state Ethics Commission has put off action on a complaint against Mayor Susan D. Menard until at least September, according to a Commission attorney involved the matter.

 The complaint alleging Menard violated ethics statues when her administration leased police motorcycles from her son-in-law’s Framingham Harley Davidson dealership was filed by Edward J. Roy Jr., a retired city police detective and past candidate for City Council.
 Roy alleged in the filing that the city paid $10,000-a-year to the dealership for the police department vehicles and voiced added concern that Menard’s son-in-law, James Pilavin, a principal in the dealership, had made donations to Menard’s campaign in 2005 and 2007.
 Menard in turn refuted Roy’s concerns following the complaint’s filing, describing the leases as a process the police department had used to acquire new motorcycles for a number of years.
 Her son-in-law did operate the Harley dealership generating the leases, Menard acknowledged, but added the arrangements were a standard offer Harley Davidson makes with police departments around the country.  The leases, Menard said, were paid for with a federal grant to the police department.
 Menard also pointed to the Council as having been aware of the lease arrangements through its budgeting process and questioned why members of the council were raising concern over the leases in response to Roy’s complaint.
Ethics Commission Attorney Dianne Leyden said the panel briefly took up the complaint against Menard in executive session on Tuesday and approved a request by her attorney, Glen Whitehead of Providence, for a 60-day extension in the preparation period of the case.
 Whitehead has been excused by the Superior Court for a vacation period and the panel agreed to follow suit with the extension request, according to Leyden.
 The extension gives Whitehead until Nov. 1 to resume the matter, but the case could be back before the Commission as soon as September based on discussions with the attorney Tuesday, Leyden said.
 The commission staff is still in the investigation phase of weighing Roy’s complaint and is expected to be ready with a recommendation on probable cause in the matter when the Commission next holds a meeting on the allegations against Menard.
 The probable cause review will be held in executive session and Menard and her attorney will have the right to attend, she said.
 The Commission would then have to render a finding on whether probable cause does exist for a potential violation of the code of ethics or if the matter should be dismissed without prejudice at that point, according to Leyden.
 If the commission were to find for probable cause, a formal hearing on the charge would be scheduled and the matter adjudicated, she noted. Such a public hearing would likely be scheduled shortly after a decision for probable cause was made, according to the attorney. Menard could face a fine of up to $25,000 for each violation found by the panel.
 Menard this week said she had not been contacted by her attorney with an update on the status of the complaint and could not comment on the matter as a result.
 Roy could not be reached for comment on the delay on Thursday.