HONOLULU -- Members of the Honolulu City Council are calling on the Honolulu Police Commission to delay choosing the next police chief until its chairwoman answers council members' questions about the controversial selection process.

The chairwoman of the police commission spent the day interviewing police chief finalists at the Honolulu Police Department, which is one reason why she did not show up at a council meeting that she had agreed to attend.

A selection committee originally selected four people as finalists in the search for Honolulu's police chief. They scored highest in an executive leadership assessment.

However, the police commission chairwoman, Christine Camp, asked the selection committee to broaden the choices and add the two next highest scoring candidates, including Assistant Police Chief Debora Tandal, considered by some political insiders to be Mayor Mufi Hannemann's preference to be the next chief.

So several council members, who are frequent critics of the mayor, called a special meeting of the public safety committee to get an explanation Monday afternoon.

Camp said she would attend, but also asked the commission to reschedule since commissioners were interviewing police chief candidates at the same time.

"So she's asking that we reschedule the meeting on the Thursday, which is one day after their final selection. So, that's really disappointing and I think shocking for all of us," Council Public Safety Chairman Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz said.

Camp said she and the commission were interviewing police chief candidates until 4:15 p.m.

She told KITV's Keoki Kerr that she will not comment on the council's request to delay a decision on the police chief until after she speaks with council Public Safety Committee Chairman Dela Cruz.

"We'd like to do our job, and that's what we're doing now," Camp said.

The commission could decide on the next police chief Wednesday, so council members have asked the commission to hold off on making a decision until after commissioners appear before them to answer questions about the controversial selection process.

"I'd rather have this all cleared up before the selection of a new police chief. It's difficult to imagine how this could possibly get more messed up," Councilman Charles Djou said.

"It just adds to the suspicion that something's going on and somebody has to hide something and it's keeping the public in the dark," Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said.

Council members are also preparing proposals for a no-confidence vote of the police commission, and second measure to form an investigative committee, with subpoena power, to look into the police chief selection process.