The hearing room at the Damariscotta municipal building bulged with supporters – and a few critics – of Damariscotta Police Chief Steve Drake at an April 20 meeting of the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen.
Drake has been on indefinite paid administrative leave since a confrontation with town officials and citizens about the police department budget at an April 6 selectmen’s meeting.
Dozens of people filled the normal allotment of chairs, while others sat in folding chairs set up for the occasion and more stood along the walls.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance and a few words on decorum from Chairman Dick McLean, Mary Trescot spoke first.
Trescot, who started a petition drive to reinstate Drake and offer him a new, three-year contract, said she got to know Drake “quite well” after working with him in her position as executive director of Youth Promise.
“It would be nice if we could go backwards a few days and manage that a little bit differently,” Trescot said, referring to the events of April 6. “I know we can’t.”
Trescot called on town officials to “work… out” the issues with Drake’s employment. “I think, sometimes, it’s worthwhile – taking the extra step – when you have a valuable person on board,” she said.
Zander Lee, a Damariscotta resident and contractor, said he’s known Drake for about 20 years.
“Every time I go to a town function, I see Steve there in full uniform, walking around and making sure everything’s okay,” Lee said.
“The punishment – I’m going to call it a punishment for Steve Drake to be on administrative leave – does not fit with what happened at the last town [selectman’s] meeting,” Lee said.
Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser has persistently said Drake’s leave is not a disciplinary action. He has, however, confirmed that it is a suspension, and Damariscotta’s personnel policy manual lists “suspensions” in a section entitled “Disciplinary Actions.”
Jim Campbell, in a rare display of support for Zinser and selectmen, said the suspension “should have happened two years ago.”
Campbell specifically thanked Selectman David Atwater (for “getting his back up about our bloated police budget”) and Damariscotta resident Dick Mayer. Atwater moved to cut the department budget by one-third at the April 6 meeting, leading to the confrontation.
A substantial group of residents roundly criticized the selectmen and Zinser for their handling of the situation, while recognizing concerns about the police department budget as legitimate.
Josh Pinkham is a former selectman and has taken out nomination papers to run in 2011.
“Everybody knows that I’ve voted against [the police department budget] before,” Pinkham said. “To me that’s a separate incident.”
“The treatment of this person is wrong,” Pinkham said. “It’s a great travesty what’s happened here.”
Pinkham expressed support for an “independent study” of police services. “Analyze it, see what’s best for the town,” he said.
“I have full confidence in [Drake],” Pinkham said, before exhorting the board to “do the right thing and be fair.”
Kevin Benner echoed Pinkham’s fiscal position. “God knows, I like to see us cut budgets everywhere,” he said.
Benner said Drake’s suspension “seems more like a personality conflict than anything else.”
“My dealings in this town with the police department have always been fair,” Benner said. “It didn’t change from George Hutchings to Steve.”
“It’s unfair to leave a guy dangling,” Benner said.
A Nobleboro woman made a more personal appeal. Drake “has been under a hell of a lot of pressure the last few months, she said. “His wife has been sick. She’s been dealing with cancer.”
The town’s decision added “insult to injury” and “reflects very badly, I think, on our community and on the kind of place we want this town to be,” the woman said.
Mike Stailing, a former employee of the Damariscotta Police Dept., said he is “deeply disappointed” in the board.
Debate over the department’s budget has raged since his employment there in 1978, Stailing said.
Stailing suggested – as Drake did in the April 6 meeting – asking the Maine Chiefs of Police Association to conduct a departmental review and a town review to determine whether the town wants “24/7 police protection.” He also said the town should survey all taxpayers about 24/7 coverage.
Damariscotta Police Dept. Det. Richard Alexander talked about the impact of budgetary debate on the department’s officers.
“It not only affects us, it affects our wives, our children,” Alexander said. Alexander said that, with seniority, he’s confident in his job security. His coworkers, however, might feel differently, he said.
“Officer [Aaron] Beck is the low man on the totem pole,” Alexander said. “He has a brand new baby. I can’t imagine what he must be thinking when he hears ‘Let’s cut the department by a third.'”
Alexander defended Drake (“a phenomenal person”) and endorsed the idea of a Maine Chiefs of Police Association study. “As police officers, we’ll accept whatever they decide to do,” he said.
Alexander is the vice president of the Damariscotta Police Benevolent Association, the union all Damariscotta’s full-time officers, with the exception of Drake, belong to.
“Please don’t treat Chief like this. He doesn’t deserve it,” Alexander said. “He’s done so much for the department and for me personally and I would hate to see a man like him leave.”
Notably, citizens present at the April 6 meeting, with one exception, described Drake’s behavior as frightening, while many others, who saw a recording of the meeting on Lincoln County Television (LCTV), struggled to see the issue.
“I’ve known Steve a long time – played basketball with him,” Buzz Pinkham said. “I’ve had some run-ins with him before.”
“That incident at the last meeting was kind of scary,” Buzz Pinkham said.
“I think [Drake] gave you no choice but to have some sort of disciplinary action,” Buzz Pinkham said. “I don’t know if that action necessarily needed to end his job here.”
“If this incident was put in his file and it tipped the file [and] you felt he had to be dismissed, I guess that’s information you’re privy to,” Buzz Pinkham said. “From what we see in the public, it didn’t seem that that was the case.”
Buzz Pinkham asked Zinser if he conducted annual reviews of Drake’s performance. Zinser declined to answer.
“I just hope you’ve followed proper procedure and, if not, maybe that’s more of a problem than the incident,” Buzz Pinkham said.
Josh Pinkham returned to the podium to ask about town policy regarding administrative leave and the appeals process for such decisions.
Zinser said the town doesn’t have or need an administrative leave policy.
“If you do not follow your policy, you open yourselves up. You’re liable,” Josh Pinkham said. “I think you guys messed up.”
Jodi Prior, the Damariscotta Police Dept. secretary, said she didn’t “see where it was scary,” referring to Drake’s actions at the April 6 meeting.
Damariscotta resident Ann Pinkham was present at the April 6 meeting. “You did not see everything on the TV,” she said.
Ann Pinkham’s testimony was repeatedly interrupted by noisy protests from the audience.
“It was very scary to see a police chief act in that manner,” Ann Pinkham said. “He had a gun… when you see a gun there, it’s kind of scary.”
McLean attempted to stop testimony shortly thereafter, citing the 30-minute limit he imposed at the outset of the meeting.
Walter Hilton, another former selectman who testified on Drake’s behalf, said “everyone in here should have a fair chance to talk” and the board acquiesced.
Rhonda Storer-Benner gave the evening’s most colorful speech after hobbling to the podium on crutches. Storer-Benner talked about the department’s speedy response and quick solving of a recent burglary and theft at her home.
“I think saying Steve Drake is scary is a bunch of [expletive],” Storer-Benner said to applause. “He held my hand in a courtroom when he was off duty. I think he goes above and beyond.”
Storer-Benner saved her most strident criticism for Zinser. “I think you’re a big baby and you can pull up your britches and take a little fight from [Drake] and if you can’t, I don’t think you should be our town manager.”
“I hope that doesn’t make my taxes increase,” Storer-Benner quipped.
After a couple of more tame pro-reinstatement speakers, the Drake/police department portion of the evening came to a close.
Despite receiving personal rebukes from multiple speakers, McLean thanked the crowd for turning out. “It’s so much better than the selectmen’s meetings where no one comes and tells us what they want us to do,” he said.
Lee asked the selectmen and Zinser when the town would make a final decision, but Zinser and McLean declined to provide a time frame.
As of press time, Drake remains on indefinite paid administrative leave. His contract expires June 30.
