PHILLIPSTON – Phillipston Det. Sgt. Sean Sawicki has been chosen to assume the role of police chief while the Selectboard continues deliberations on four applicants for the position interviewed Thursday.

The Selectboard spent more than six hours interviewing the applicants and deliberating how to proceed with filling the position. Interviews began at 2 p.m. and board Chair Bernie Malouin said it was after 8 p.m. before the meeting adjourned.

No final decision was made on who will fill the post being vacated by Police Chief Kevin Dodge, who tendered his resignation in March.

In an interview Friday morning, Malouin said the board wants to take a bit more time to evaluate the finalists, including carrying out background checks.

“We’re going to look at the applicants again at some point,” said Malouin. “Because the interviews took so long, we didn’t have a great deal of time to talk after we were done.”

The applicants interviewed include Sawicki, Templeton Police officers Bill Chapman and Robert Deschenes III, and Homeland Security Special Agent Ronald Militana of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Malouin said each applicant possessed unique qualifications, and he and board members Nicole Gough and Gerhard Fandreyer wanted more time to consider who would be the best fit for Phillipston’s Police Department.

That does not mean, however, that no one will oversee the department in the meantime.

“We voted to have Sean (Sawicki) assume the duties of the police chief,” said Malouin. “He’s going to assume those duties and we’re going to give him a stipend for as long as he does that. He’s going to do it while staying at the rank of sergeant….And it will give us a little bit of time to weigh the other applicants.”

Sawicki will officially take on the duties of chief on June 30, according to Malouin.

At a recent meeting, Dodge said he would be willing to stay on a bit longer to act as a mentor to Sawicki but, said Malouin, “We discussed that a little bit and decided it’s probably best just to let Sean be on his own, and if he needs any help – like a consultant or someone in that role – we’ll look to see if there are organizations, like the Mass Chiefs of Police or some other organization, that can do some consulting work with Sean. We did express to Sean that if he did run into a glitch and needed help, he should let us know and we’ll try to get it to him.”

Malouin said no meeting has been scheduled as of yet to continue discussions regarding the four applicants.

“Right now we have somebody who is going to be in place,” he said. “And, anyway, we are going to look at the other ones again.”

Malouin said he stressed to Sawicki that the board wants him to remain with the department, whether it’s as sergeant or chief, once a final decision is made.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.