Over Selectman Steve Holmes' strong objections, the Board of Selectmen Tuesday voted 3-1 in support of Richard Stanley being named full-time permanent Police Chief at a salary of $166,000 per year.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews said Stanley will sign his contract Wednesday but will not begin the job until Stanley comes to an agreement with his current employer, the North Andover Police Department, where he currently serves as full-time police chief.

On Wednesday, the chair of the Board of Selectmen in North Andover Daniel Lanen said no date has been set for the police chief to leave North Andover. Lanen added that he didn't know prior to Andrews’ announcement Tuesday that Stanley would be appointed chief in Wareham.

A press release issued by the North Andover Police Department Monday explained: "Chief Stanley stated to [North Andover Police] that the Town Administrator in Wareham was recently able to offer him a significant increase in salary beyond what North Andover has the fiscal capacity to provide and that in the financial interests of his family he could not turn down this opportunity."

Selectmen Walter Cruz, Ellen Begley, and Michael Schneider all voted in support of the chief's contract, though Town Administrator Mark Andrews stated he didn’t need the approval of the Selectmen to hire Stanley. Selectman Cara Winslow was absent.

Holmes was vocal in his opposition.

“I do not think we have the money” to support Stanley’s salary, he said. “I have been asking [Andrews] where the money would be coming from for two weeks and have gotten no where.”

The chief's base pay in Wareham $130,000. He will receive the remainder of the funds through the Massachusetts Quinn Bill, which allows chiefs to earn more money when they have completed degrees in higher education. Stanley’s current salary in North Andover is just over $133,000.

Even Stanley's North Andover salary is considerably above the approximately $109,500 in total compensation paid to Wareham's former long-time chief Thomas Joyce in fiscal year 2007.

Police chiefs in Bourne, Dartmouth, and Middleborough are paid roughly $141,814, $122,000, and $124,000, respectively.

The chief's salary in the Town of Plymouth is not based on a contract but instead on "grades" governed by personnel bylaws. The police chief's compensation range is from $88,412 to $108,524.

In comparison, the Boston Police Commissioner is paid a salary of $171,468.

The appointment comes days after signs pressuring Selectmen to hire Stanley popped up all over town. The signs read: "We want Stanley or we want a recall." A recall is enacted to unseat an elected official between elections.

Who is responsible for the signs could not be confirmed. Though some speculated political action committee Move Wareham Forward was behind the initiative, the group's president and husband of newly-elected Selectman Ellen Begley said he didn't know the source of the signs.

Stanley, who has served as part-time interim chief since Thomas Joyce retired in June 2009, originally said he had no intention of seeking the full-time position. But in March 2010, he was presented to the Board of Selectmen as Andrews' choice for the permanent post. He reportedly entered contract negotiations with the intention of leaving North Andover at the end of last summer.

During his time in Wareham, Stanley is credited with helping the police department earn state certification, obtaining a fleet of new police cruisers, revitalizing the department's K-9 Unit, and adding bike and foot patrol officers to the streets during the summer months.

When asked for comment, Stanley said he'd speak sometime on Wednesday

.