The New Brunswick Police Commission is handing the Police Act investigation into two Bathurst police officers involved in the shooting death of a Tracadie man back to the City of Bathurst.

Constables Patrick Bulger and Mathieu Boudreau shot and killed Michel Vienneau at the Bathurst train station on Jan.12, 2015, after he came off a train from Montreal.

The officers were investigating whether Vienneau and his common-law partner were in possession of illegal drugs after returning from Quebec.

Criminal charges against the two officers were dropped in February.

The New Brunswick Police Commission, which investigates complaints related to police conduct, was asked to take on the Police Act investigation into the officers after the court proceedings concluded.

The commission says it agreed, as long as the City of Bathurst agreed to pay for half of the investigation. The commission says that’s normal, especially for high-profile cases.

“This has happened in other very large cases in this province,” says the commission's executive director, Steve Roberge.

Bathurst’s mayor and council advised the commission they would not sign a cost-sharing agreement. Without that agreement, Roberge says the commission has to hand the investigation back to the Bathurst Police Chief.

“We’re a little taken aback, actually, by the decision by the mayor and council,” says Roberge. “We’ve got other communities that have been more than willing, and more than happy, to cost-share with the commission, as well as to leave the responsibility of the disciplinary process with the commission.”

Bathurst Mayor Paolo Fongemie says they had questions for the commission that went unanswered.

“We know there’s a cost,” says Fongemie. “But we wanted the guidelines.”

Fongemie says the police chief is on board with the city’s decision to take on the investigation, and doesn’t believe it will have an impact on their resources.

“We do have numbers in mind. It will depend on who we have as an investigator,” says Fongemie. “That number will be more precise as it kicks off.”

Bathurst City Police Chief Eugene Poitras said previously the two officers had been suspended with pay until the court process was concluded.