LINCOLN, Maine — Town Manager Lisa Goodwin will restart the search for a police chief after attracting just six candidates to fill the open position, she said Tuesday.

“We want to get a larger pool of candidates,” Goodwin said.

The decision to restart the search came after a Town Council executive session Monday night, she said.

Goodwin described their search for a permanent replacement for Police Chief William Flagg, who resigned Aug. 25, as ongoing, although she said she was surprised at the lack of candidates for the position.

Of the six candidates, she interviewed three about three weeks ago. She said she did not know why so few candidates have applied for the position, or when a permanent replacement would be found.

“We have to go through the process,” Goodwin said.

A former state police officer, Fire Chief Phil Dawson is filling in for Flagg temporarily.

A Milford resident, Flagg took a full-time but temporary position with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, his former department, as a patrol officer, filling in for another officer who is on an extended leave of absence, he said.

Flagg eventually hopes to secure a position teaching law enforcement, possibly in a university setting, Goodwin had said at the time.

Lincoln’s police chief since October 2007, Flagg replaced interim Police Chief Phil Dawson, who filled in for retired Police Chief Hank Dusenbery.

Dusenbery, who took the helm of the town’s police squad five years ago after a 20-year career with the Maine State Police, cited philosophical differences with then-Town Manager Glenn Aho as his reason for leaving on July 2. He is now a private investigator.

Aho and the council selected Flagg from 19 applicants.

Flagg had been a lead investigator for the Sheriff’s Department for several years, typically handling homicides, assaults and other crimes throughout northern Penobscot County.

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