And then there were four.

The announcement Tuesday by Honolulu Police Commission Chairman Max Sword that he is recusing himself from the selection process for a new police chief, due to a conflict of interest, means all four other sitting commission members will need to agree on who should lead the Honolulu Police Department.

Because the commission has seven seats, the law says four commissioners must agree for any action to take place. But two commissioners — Marc Tilker and Luella Costales — resigned in recent months and they have yet to be replaced by Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Steven Levinson, one of the four commissioners still eligible to vote for a chief, is already mulling the ways that he, Commission Vice Chairwoman Cha Thompson, and commissioners Eddie Flores and Loretta Sheehan may be able to select a new chief in the event not all of them agree on the same top candidate.

Levinson said he will ask the other commissioners and city attorneys about the idea of a “tiered” voting system where the remaining commissioners are handed two ballots — one stating only their first choice for chief, the other ranking all seven finalists from one to seven. If all four don’t have the same first choice, they would then tally up the votes for the seven and name the finalist ranking highest as the new chief.

“If it ultimately shook down that all four voting commissioners had the same choice or preference, great!” Levinson said. “If we don’t, casting two ballots simultaneously and holding the ranked ballot in reserve, pending a determination as to whether all four commissioners agreed to a first choice, makes sense to me.”

He added: “I don’t know, ultimately, whether all four remaining commissioners are going to have the same first choice or not. And if that’s the only means of voting, and if (we) don’t, then we’re up a creek.”

If no decision can be made by the four, the commission will need to wait for Caldwell to fill one or two of the vacancies, which would need to go through the City Council approval process and then be caught up with everything else the commission has been doing, Levinson said. “And nobody wants that,” he said.

Levinson said he will bring his proposal before the commission at its next meeting, Oct. 18. Under the schedule devised by the commission while under Sword’s leadership, the commission staff is now undertaking rigorous background checks of the seven finalists, who are then to be interviewed behind closed doors by the commissioners Oct. 23-25. A decision could be made by Oct. 25.

Sheehan, another of the four commissioners still eligible to participate, said she thinks the chances of those left coming to consensus are good.

“We have to be unanimous. Cooperation and coordination are going to be key,” she said.

Sword’s announcement came after city Ethics Commission Executive Director Jan Yamane informed him that he had a conflict of interest because Thomas Aiu, one of the finalists for the chief’s job, is a first cousin of Sword’s wife, Mona Wood-Sword.

SWORD ASKED for an opinion last week.

In his request for an opinion, Sword argued that he could assess each of the seven candidates fairly and impartially, adding that he was submitting a conflict-of-interest disclosure “in an abundance of caution.”

Wood-Sword and Aiu are not close, Sword said, while he, personally, has no business ties to Aiu and has seen him most recently at two family funerals and one other family gathering.

However, he said Tuesday in a statement issued jointly with Caldwell, “I fully respect and accept their decision.”

Sheehan earlier this week said she believes Sword should have informed his colleagues of his connection to Aiu immediately after the finalists were announced Sept. 28, and before public testimony on the candidates was taken Oct. 4.

IT WAS AIU who first approached the Ethics Commission about his blood tie to Wood-Sword on Sept. 8 after he was named one of nine semifinalists.

As a result of Aiu’s query, Yamane sent a letter Sept. 19 to Police Commission Executive Officer Daniel Lawrence about the relationship between Sword and Aiu.

In the letter, Yamane suggested that Sword should make his wife’s relationship with Aiu public. She included a blank conflict-of-interest form, the same form that Sword returned to the Ethics Commission on Oct. 6.

Sword, in the form he completed, said he wanted the advice of the commission.

Yamane completed the disclosure statement on Tuesday, stating, “Honolulu Police Commission Chair should recuse himself from the chief of police candidate vetting and selection process, including the final vote.”

Asked why he did not make public Aiu’s ties to his family earlier, Sword told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Tuesday that he was not made aware of Yamane’s initial letter in September until after the finalists were named Sept. 28.

Aiu declined comment for this story.

SWORD WAS first appointed to a partial term on the Police Commission by former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, appointed to a full term by former Mayor Peter Carlisle, and then reappointed to a second full term last year, on the same date Sheehan was appointed to her first term.

Levinson, who was appointed by the mayor a year ago, criticized Caldwell for not filling the two vacancies, noting that he has implored the mayor to do so and has given up trying.

“It’s baffling to me,” he said. “It’s not tenable for us to continue to be short-handed for very much longer. I just have difficulty believing that there aren’t qualified people who would be willing to serve and would do a very good job, so I don’t get it.”

Caldwell spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said late Tuesday that the mayor has been “actively searching for qualified candidates willing to volunteer to serve” on the unpaid commission.

Caldwell has approached people about serving, Broder Van Dyke said. “A number of people have said ‘no,’ and some have cited the intense media coverage,” he said.

Besides Aiu, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent, the six other finalists are HPD Maj. Susan Ballard, retired HPD Maj. Kurt Kendro, retired HPD Assistant Chief Kevin Lima, retired Pennsylvania State Police Maj. Mark Lomax, Arlington (Texas) Police Department Deputy Chief James Lowery Jr. and retired HPD Deputy Chief Paul Putzulu.