New London - More than six months after Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio suspended Police Chief Margaret Ackley, the City Council on Tuesday night voted to hire an attorney to lead an investigation of Ackley's conduct as chief.

By a 5-1 vote, the council approved spending up to $20,000 to hire attorney Kathleen Eldergill of the Manchester-based law firm Beck Eldergill to begin an "independent personnel investigation" of Ackley's alleged misconduct as police chief.

Councilor Martin T. Olsen cast the dissenting vote, and Councilor Erica Richardson was not present at Tuesday's meeting.

On July 31, Finizio suspended Ackley, with pay, "pending the outcome of an investigation into her conduct as chief." Finizio said he suspended Ackley because of allegations that she selectively targeted union leaders for discipline, withheld information about the public safety requirements for the Sailfest festival and deliberately failed to assign officers to Ocean Beach Park on the weekend of July 4 "in order to make a political budgetary point."

During the debate on the topic, councilors said they were not eager to spend any more money on the issue but believed that hiring an outside investigator was the only way to eliminate questions of impropriety in the investigation.

"This is a move that I think council has to do to move forward and try and put a stop to this shenanigan," Councilor Anthony Nolan, himself a city police officer, said. "I think as a council we have to start taking charge, and this is the only way to take charge that matters, have someone else step in and bring a closure to it so we can move on. Hopefully in the end we can move on comfortably and not have to worry about someone trying to take us to the bank."

Finizio said state law requires "an independent investigation" of the chief, which is why he originally requested that the City Council move $92,500 from an economic development fund to pay 90-year-old William H. Webster - a former federal judge who also served as director of both the CIA and the FBI - to conduct the Ackley investigation.

After the council unanimously rejected Finizio's request, the mayor instead appointed Personnel Administrator Tina Collins to head the investigation. Finizio said he chose her because she was hired through the city's civil service process and was not a political appointee.

"The city risk manager felt there was an alternative and that alternative proposal is what is before the City Council," he said. "We want to make sure that what we're doing, we are doing right."

Anticipating that the council will be asked to make more decisions related to Ackley, Councilor Michael Passero amended the motion to include a stipulation that Eldergill's report would be made available to councilors as soon as it is completed, rather than relying on the mayor to turn it over.

"Let's face it, at some point we're going to be dealing with issues, and the cost of this whole situation is going to be enormous compared to this $20,000, I can assure you," Passero said. "And I want to know going forward, for any other decisions that I have to make, I want to have this report."

Olsen said he could not even consider voting to hire Eldergill without first hearing from either Collins or Finizio the results of Collins' six-month investigation.

"The administration has let this slide for six months, and it angers me to no end," Olsen said. "Here we are being asked to spend 20 grand without even knowing if anything has been done. We need answers; we need accountability."

Olsen said he is upset that Finizio appointed Collins to run the investigation rather than propose hiring Eldergill or another attorney back in August.

"He's been sitting on this for six damn months," Olsen said. "That's outrageous, outrageous. It boggles my mind. I haven't been this angry sitting in these quarters, ever. I want to know what's gone on these last six months, what has our personnel coordinator done, if anything? I think we have a right to know. If she hasn't done anything, why not? I'd like to know."

Leon Rosenblatt, the attorney representing Ackley, called the proposed change in investigators "puzzling."

"First there are these phantom charges against Ackley," he told The Day on Monday. "Then the assignment of a city official to do an investigation that either never occurred or the results were not what the mayor wanted."

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung