DIXFIELD — Following a lengthy debate Monday night, selectmen voted 3-2 to put a question on the Nov. 7 ballot asking residents if they want to to discontinue the Police Department as of Jan. 1, 2018.
Selectman Aaron Jamison made the motion, Norm Mitchell seconded it and Hart Daley joined them in voting in favor. Norine Clarke and Gene Skibitsky opposed.
A public hearing to discuss the question will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, at the Dirigo High School.
Jamison began the debate by referring to the June 29 special town meeting attended by 70 voters for a second vote to approve a budget for the Police Department. At that time, he made a motion for no money for the department and it was seconded. After 75 minutes of debate, Jamison’s motion failed, 32-36.
Residents passed a budget by a vote of 45-23.
“The Dixfield Police Department only exists because of the vote of four people, four votes,” Mitchell said.
“If we vote to put this on the ballot, then this should answer the question once and for all,” Skibitsky said.
Clarke said the town will not be able to afford disbanding this department and then start over. “You’ve got to stick with this one and make changes if you want to,” she said.
Resident Sue Holmes said, “You have to have a contingency plan.”
Mitchell responded, “We know what would would happen if we don’t have the Police Department. We have the Sheriff’s Office.”
“The vote is what it was,” Jamison said. “But I think we should bring this to the whole town, and I think this is a good time to do it.”
Following the June 29 vote, he said he had several people say to him, “‘I wish I knew'” or “‘I wish we knew more about it.'”
“So, we’ll give them the opportunity to vote this time,” Jamison said.
Police Chief Jeff Howe, who has been with the department since 1999, said, “If you wish to go forward and have something like that done … then by all means, do so. But this needs to be well explained to everybody so they understand exactly what they’re getting.”
He said he doesn’t believe getting rid of the department is going to be good for community. The 24-hour patrol his department provides is “critical,” he said.
Mitchell added that when considering the Police Department, there are also future costs that people need to keep in mind, such as a new location for a police station.
Town Manager Carlo Puiia concurred.
“You cannot forget that your department is in a deficient space and needs to be changed within a period of time that’s reasonable,” he said. …”To talk about a police station is a relative subject. That doesn’t mean you have to get rid of your department. … We don’t have to build a new police station; it could be a place you lease. But you can’t continue to go in the same direction you’re going.”
Puiia said he will repeat at the public hearing what he’s been saying. “Dixfield has to be more responsible with funding for the Police Department,” he said. “And when that number grows, do people still want that number?”
At the annual town meeting in June, residents rejected an article asking if they would support establishing a police building reserve fund, which included a request to appropriate $25,000 for it.
Clarke said planning needs to go into making a decision on the Police Department. “If we’re going to keep the Police Department, this is what it’s going to require. If we’re not going to have a Police Department, this is what you’ll be left with.”
She added that she doesn’t believe a decision should be made without doing research into what the options are.
“We’ve talked in the past about several places in town that have an option of being a place to put one (police station), but we’ve never followed through. We’ve never done any research, pricing, traffic studies. We know nothing about what our options are.”