VIDEO: Chief and Selectmen Begin Transition Process

It's official. Selectmen voted unanimously Friday to allow Police Chief Richard Stanley to transfer to Wareham, where he will serve full-time as that town's chief of police.

Selectman Chair Dan Lanen, who is also a North Andover police officer, did not attend the meeting.

Stanley's last day in North Andover will be May 16.

Stanley, who has served as North Andover's police chief since 1986, addressed the selectmen Friday afternoon about the steps needed for the town to transition to a new police chief. He said he would be in North Andover to address Town Meeting next month about budget issues.

"I'm here 110 percent right up until the day you tell me to leave," Stanley said. He will also have to make sure paperwork is in order to maintain the Department's accreditation as well as train the interim chief for his job. No interim chief has been named yet.

which came as a surprise to many in North Andover. The North Andover selectmen found out about that vote via text message Tuesday night as they were wrapping up their own meeting, Selectman Don Stewart said.

Stanley, 55, told selectmen that he reached a decision to take the Wareham job for the financial well-being of his family -- the Wareham job comes with a $166,000 salary.

Stanley will not be new to Wareham. He has been using vacation time every Friday to serve as Wareham's interim police chief on Fridays and weekends since 2009. Since then, he has indicted that he would transfer to Wareham full-time, but at times he has said he would stay in North Andover.

One point of contention Friday afternoon was in the time allotted to find an interim chief. Stanley will leave in 30 days, and Selectman Tracy Watson spoke out about taking that long to find an interim chief, since command staff at the Police Department was supposed to have been evaluated for more than a year in the event Stanley would leave his position and head to Wareham full-time.

"The timing, in my opinion, is kind of off," Watson said. "Thirty days to transition, to train and what have you. We've had 18 months to evaluate command staff."

Selectman William Gordon stressed the need to follow a process of allowing people interested in being interim chief to come forward and be evaluated for the job.

"We've had 18 months to do that," Watson reiterated. "That was one of the reasons that I said yes to letting the Wareham gig to happen, was because of the fact that we knew the time would come that Chief Stanley would be leaving the Town of North Andover."

So selectmen agreed to shorten the search and selection time to allow the interim chief to train with Stanley before Stanley leaves. Intersted parties have until next week to apply for the interim position.

Stanley took the opportunity to apologize to selectmen about the confusion over his transfer and the quickness of the announcement.

"I feel very bad putting you people in your position," he said. "But at the same time, it did happen quickly, it did kind of happen out of left field, and it wasn't in the cards the whole way."

He also took a moment to address speculation that he was playing games and selling out his town for a higher bid.

"There was no duping taking place," Stanley said. "For those of you who know me for so long, you know that wasn't the case. I haven't worked this hard to play games. This has been a serious calling in my life. I enjoy it, and I love it."

Stay tuned to Patch for developments in the transition to a new police chief.