ATTLEBORO - Frank Cook and Walter Thibodeau are poised to take the jobs of president and vice-president respectively of the city council.

The two veteran councilors, who sought the leadership posts as a team, announced Monday they each have eight votes, including their own.

Six are need to win the jobs on the 11-member panel.

"At this point there are a grand total of eight people who have committed to us and said we could use their names," Cook said.

Supporters are councilors Peter Blais, Bill Bowles and George Ross, along with councilors-elect Bill Bergevine, Gerry Chase and Shannon Heagney, he said. Councilors Kim Allard and Brian Kirby along with councilor-elect Michael Sullivan have not agreed to vote for the pair.

There are no other known candidates. Blais wanted the presidency, but couldn't garner the support.

Cook said neither he nor Thibodeau won commitments by wheeling and dealing with committee chairmanships or assignments.

"Nobody has been promised anything or has been given anything," Cook said. "I just asked if they would consider me for president and I'm pleased they did."

It was Ross that got the ball rolling for Cook and Thibodeau.

Ross was the first councilor to suggest the two seek the leadership posts, calling both men soon after they were re-elected in November, Cook said.

Cook, who has headed the finance committee for two terms and is a former planning board chairman, will be starting his fifth term.

Thibodeau, chairman of the transportation and traffic committee, will be starting his sixth.

He declined the presidency, arguing that Cook's knowledge of parliamentary procedure makes him more qualified to run the panel.

The president also acts as mayor when the chief executive is out of town or incapacitated. If elected as expected, the pair said they will encourage an independent council and one that does much of the hard work of legislating at the committee level.

It's the council's job to be part of city government's checks and balances, they said.

The goal is to support initiatives from the administration when they are deemed to be in the "best interests of the city" and oppose them when they are not, the councilors said.

Thibodeau said each initiative should be evaluated on its merits alone.

If the council can't support something for some reason, it won't be for personal reasons, he said.

"We each have our own responsibilities," he said of the council and mayoral roles. "But ultimately they are the same, to serve the people."

Cook said he will not "micromanage" committees, but he would like to see problems with legislation resolved on the committee level rather than have them come to the floor of the full council, where it's more appropriate to debate a finished proposal.

"I'd like to see committees buckle down and wrestle with the issues on committee nights," he said. "Too often questions come up on the night (the full council) is voting when they should have been resolved in committee. Sometimes it makes us look like we don't know what we are doing."

If all commitments are kept, Cook and Thibodeau will replace President Barry LaCasse and Vice-President Robert Schoch, neither of whom ran for re-election.

The next step is to meet with all councilors and councilors-elect and talk about what committee assignments interest them, Cook and Thibodeau said.

That process must be completed prior to the Jan. 8 inauguration of the new term.

GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.