Three members on the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen supported the town obtaining a police chief during a budget workshop with Budget Committee members Wednesday night.
There is a proposal in the budget to add two permanent part-time officers to the Wiscasset Police Dept. to ensure 24 hour a day, seven days a week coverage. Two selectmen on the board supported Wiscasset Police Administrator Lt. John Allen’s proposal to not hire a police chief and add the two permanent part-time officers.
Allen said the department currently uses the services of 10 reserve officers. He asks them to serve at least one shift per month, usually on a weekend. Allen said reserve officers often cover for the full-time staff during sick time, vacation and bereavement time.
He said the two additional officers would save the town money. They would not have benefits or health insurance. They would be offered full shifts on a weekly basis and would mostly replace the need for many of the reserve officers; though Allen said the department would still need the monthly support from the reserve staff.
One of a handful of people in the audience pointed out officers might be eligible for an IRS retirement plan if they work so many hours per year. Allen said the officers would not work beyond the threshold where they would need to attend the academy. He said they would work 20 hours per week, but not every weekend.
The total police department budget falls just over $310,000. The salary and benefits for a chief is estimated to cost at most $81,000 ($60,000 for salary and $21,000 for benefits). As confirmed by the committee, the difference would mean an additional $20,000 to have a chief and two officers. The total cost for the two additional part-time permanent officers is $36,400.
Currently, the police department operates with two officers and Lt. Allen who works as a full-time officer. This number is down from the eight full-time officers the town used to have on staff. Allen said one of his officers, Willy Simmons, has been thinking of retiring and he does not know how much longer Simmons will stay on the department. Given that information, Allen said the town would still need to plan on his salary and benefits being in the budget, as well as to take care of money owed after he does retire.
“Do you need a chief with who you have in the department now or do you want someone over us?” Allen said. “If you need someone over us, we’ve been working for three years without a chief and I don’t understand the reason why.”
Allen said if the board chooses to hire a chief over what the department has now and not hire him as chief, the town would pay more than the estimated $60,000 salary.
“If you’re looking for just a title, because you feel it is a liability issue,” he said, “then consider hiring from within.”
According to Allen, with a just new chief, whether it would be himself or another person from somewhere else, there would not be police coverage 24 hours a day. He insisted the town would have that coverage with the addition of the two part-time permanent officers.
“I’m in favor of a police chief,” Selectman Philip DiVece said. “It’s in the collective bargaining contract. I don’t have a problem with backfilling it with the reserves if it’s been budgeted. I think we should leave it up to the town’s people if they want to hire a police chief.”
Blagden, agreeing with DiVece said the town should have a police chief, adding it would give the department the chain of command it is supposed to have. He suggested the town have a chief and two officers to maintain the status quo.
“Frankly, the 24/7 coverage is not the brightest bulb on my string,” he said. “I think it’s been working fine with the three officers covering the hours they cover.”
Some of the selectmen agreed the budget is not set up to hire from within at this time, but Allen suggested he would be open to negotiation. Selectman William Curtis, one of two selectmen who did not vote for the town hiring a police chief, said he had changed his mind after some incidents in town that had occurred requiring the additional coverage.
