WESTBROOK – 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 the recently hired interim police chief, Janine Roberts, as well as the interim fire chief, Andrew Turcotte, who was promoted from deputy fire chief, and will keep 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 last week 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.

Bryant said the financial impact of keeping two positions 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.”

Mayor Colleen Hilton said Monday the resignation of Pardue left the city an opportunity to try a dual-chief model.

“I want to give this a really good trial period and see if it’s the best model,” she said. “I’m not sure yet which is the best model, but I’m very pleased in what I’m seeing in Chief Turcotte and Chief Roberts, and I want to give them the opportunity to sort of demonstrate what the strong chief role can do.”

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 last week 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.