NORWAY – A new police chief could be appointed in the next two weeks, Town Manager Dave Holt said Wednesday.

A Portland firm that works with police departments is this week administering a psychological exam for one of three final candidates, Holt said.

“This is the person we will hire, I would expect,” he said. “The only reason that we wouldn’t would be the psychological examination, or an inability to agree on pay, or the person changing their mind.”

The search for a new chief began in April after former Chief Tim Richards was fired after a protection-from-abuse order was filed against him by a former female patrol officer.

Holt on Wednesday acknowledged the search for a new chief has been a long one. “I’ve heard a fair amount of criticism lately because this thing has not been done quicker,” he said.

Holt, alluding to problems with Richards and even the prior police chief, said he wanted to be sure all final candidates were carefully screened.

An initial pool of candidates was narrowed to three in August, at which point Holt said the search could still take months while the candidates underwent background checks, lie-detector tests and psychological examinations.

Holt also said the town would wait and see whether the Palesky tax-cap initiative was approved by voters Nov. 2 before hiring anyone. If the measure passed, he said, the town may not have had the money to pay a new chief.

“It would have been wasteful to spend the money on testing these people,” Holt said Wednesday.

To date, Holt said, about $2,000 has been spent on the hiring process. That has covered the top candidate’s psychological examination and hiring a private investigator for the background checks.

Holt said a number of people have helped with the hiring process to date, including members of the Police Chief Search Committee and a later committee that helped narrow the initial pool of candidates.

The Norway Board of Selectmen, he said, “have to confirm whoever gets nominated, so they are actually pretty powerful in this.”