Westbrook officials have suspended their search for a new director of public safety, instead maintaining two interim chief positions that may become permanent.

According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant, city officials are pleased with recently hired interim police chief, Janine Roberts, as well as the interim fire chief, Andrew Turcotte, who was promoted from deputy fire chief, and are keeping the two in place for the foreseeable future.

Both interim positions were announced in September following the resignation of Michael Pardue, the director of public safety, after nearly four years.

Bryant said Thursday that the city wants to take “a good, hard look” at restoring a structure with the separate police and fire chief positions.

“With the two people we have currently in an interim basis, we’re comfortable doing that,” he said.

In terms of how the two positions would affect the municipal budget, Bryant said that would be decided during the upcoming budget season.

“We want to give this a chance to operate for a while, with the people we have in place right now,” he said. “I anticipate that as we build a budget for next year, we’ll be making the decision of whether we want it to be permanent or not.”

In 2010, Pardue was brought in as a management consultant to head the troubled fire department, and was eventually named director of public safety, overseeing both police and fire departments.

City Councilor Mike Sanphy, who served in the Westbrook Police Department for 40 years, said Thursday that having a director overseeing all departments is “good in theory, bad in practice,” for a city of Westbrook’s size.

“You need the experience,” he said, adding that it’s important that each department is led by someone knowledgeable in their respective field.

Pardue said in September that his departure was unrelated to a possible sexual harassment suit against the police department. Officer Melissa May filed a notice of claim against the city in late August, stating that she has been the victim of gender bias, sexual harassment, retaliation, and whistleblower discrimination ever since a routine traffic stop in January, when she ticketed the girlfriend of a fellow officer.

On Sept. 29, the day that Roberts and Turcotte were sworn in, Officer Sandy Mailman filed a second notice of claim against the department. Neither has filed a suit in court.