Nine months after former part-time police Chief Robert Dupuis stepped down, Webster still hasn’t been able to find a full-time police chief.
Advertising for the full-time position proved fruitless due to low application numbers, lack of qualified applicants and strained budget numbers, the select board said.
But days after changing the position to part-time, which would allow a retired police officer to collect a state pension plus a salary from the town, the applications started rolling in.
Board members announced Tuesday, at the recommendation of an “oral board” of law enforcement officers and one Webster resident, that they decided to hire a new part-time chief, instead of a full-time one. By the end of the week, the pool of applications included highly qualified candidates.
The oral board suggested hiring a retired police chief, who wouldn’t need benefits but just a $56,000 to $60,000 salary. The new chief will oversee two full-time officers, a part-time administrator and a $300,000 budget.
Webster will see savings by hiring a part-time chief eligible to work a 32 hours a week because the town wouldn’t have to make contributions to the retirement system, or pay for health benefits, which adds up to tens of thousands of dollars. But each time the retirement system loses a contributing position, every municipality has to increase their contributions to make up the shortfall, or the system’s $4 billion unfunded liability continues to grow.
Of the candidates expressing interest in the part-time chief position, selectwoman Nanci Schofield said many are from the same pool of people applying for part-time chief positions in three other towns, like Canterbury.
After the former Canterbury police chief resigned following sexual assault charges that he was acquitted of, the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office did a review and recommended Canterbury hire a part-time, retired police chief, too. The sheriff’s office was one of the law enforcement agencies represented on Webster’s oral board.
When residents asked at Tuesday’s meeting about the advantages of hiring part-time versus full-time, board Chairman Bruce Johnson whispered, “Experience.”
Schofield said the advisory board told the select board to increase the salary for a full-time police chief “immensely” in order to attract good candidates.
“Which we can’t afford to do,” Schofield said.
More residents pointed out that as taxpayers, they had told the select board they wanted a full-time police chief twice. First, by approving a town meeting warrant article, and then on the 8-1 recommendation of a police chief search advisory committee that met last winter.
Resident Sarah Chalsma said, “It just seems to me that a chief that was full-time would benefit us more than a lot of other part-time people.”
Schofield countered, “We didn’t say it was better.”
In the meantime, the select board said that town counsel ruled the earlier town meeting warrant article as “advisory,” and the police committee’s recommendation of a full-time police chief also included the process of using an oral board to make a final recommendation, which happened.
Schofield added that the hope is to hire a part-time chief now, better the department, improve Webster’s reputation in the law enforcement community – there was a vote to zero out the police budget in 2012, which was narrowly defeated – and to eventually bring on a full-time chief.
“Don’t think that we don’t want a full-time chief – that is our goal. And that is what the oral board wants for us too,” Schofield said. “Their suggestion was to hire a retired chief to come in part time for two to three years, work to build up our reputation with the surrounding communities, work to hire new police officers, get them on board, to work with our police officers we have here, to build the community to come together.”
Unity in a town that has been politically split over its police department for years – including a signs campaign this spring for Dan Shapiro, a current Webster officer, and letters to the local Webster Grapevine in support of interim Webster police Chief Phil Mitchell – is the ultimate goal, Schofield said.
“In two to three years down the road, we’re going to be able to have a full-time chief who’s able to continue with that – to continue with the unity, the experience and the knowledge and to keep us safe . . . and keep us happy, too,” she said.
While some residents voiced approval for the select board’s work on the issue, others were still not satisfied. Scott Sweezy wondered why only two of the three original candidates for the full-time position were seen by the oral board, and others insisted the town should be looking for a full-time police chief as voters had asked it to do.
A few residents were more concerned about safety.
Chalsma said she wanted whatever was best for the protection and security of Webster, even if it means paying more for a full-time chief.
“I’m willing to pay,” Chalsma said. If not, she requested proof that a part-time chief would keep the town’s safety intact.
“We have a school in town and safety should be our top priority,” Chalsma said.
She added that she was in Concord High School at the time of the 1985 shooting incident when a student who had dropped out entered the school with a shotgun and took two students hostage before he was fatally wounded by police officers.
“I don’t want that to happen here,” Chalsma said. “My utmost concern is for the safety of our town, for the break-ins that we all hear go on here, for the drug use we all know happens here.”
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)