Despite low funds, Lincolnville hires police chief

LINCOLNVILLE – Saturday was supposed to be Rick Osgood’s last day on the job as the town’s police chief.

Instead of retiring, as he announced he would do over a year ago, Osgood will hold down the fort in this town of 2,000 for another two weeks, when new chief Tom Russell takes over.

Selectmen voted Thursday night to hire Russell as police chief, agreeing to pay him for 35 hours of work each week. Town Administrator Skip Day said Russell will work a varying schedule.

But it was not procrastination on the part of town officials that has the new chief arriving two weeks too late. Rather, residents have expressed ambivalence in voting on the issue of local law enforcement.

A year ago, in a nonbinding referendum, residents faced four options for law enforcement after Osgood’s retirement, and by a slim margin, voted to create a full-time department that would provide 85 hours of police coverage each week, at an estimated annual cost of $80,000.

A close second in the June 2000 vote was maintaining the current level of police coverage, even though it would cost about $40,000 to provide the level of service Osgood provided at less money.

Then in December, residents voted at a special town meeting to approve, in concept, spending $52,000 to continue the Police Department in a form similar to what has existed. At that time, Day said that the town could apply for a federal community policing grant, and might be able to get as much as 75 percent of the cost of a full-time officer reimbursed.

But earlier this month, at the annual town meeting, residents debated at length the cost of keeping the department going. Selectmen had budgeted $70,474, but residents defeated that article and finally approved spending $24,085.

The vote in favor of the smaller amount was 70-58, Day said. Of the $24,085 figure, just $12,000 is dedicated to payroll and the remainder to payment on a cruiser and for equipment.

Two part-time officers will also be paid for their work out of that amount, Day said.

Meeting Thursday night, selectmen voted to hire Russell for 35 hours each week, board Chairman Walt Simmons said Friday. Russell has been working as a part-time sergeant with the department for the last two years.

When the funds for Russell’s salary run out in about six months, Simmons said, the board will call for a special town meeting and put the matter to residents again.

Day said the predicament the town finds itself in illustrates how important voting is. He said there was a concerted effort to get out the “no” vote on the Police Department, and it prevailed, even though greater numbers of people voted in support of the department in the concept vote in December.

Simmons has created a pie chart, showing that the proposed amount for law enforcement – $70,474 – represented just 1.7 percent of the total town budget, including school obligations.

Day said he has been in contact with the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office about the status of the town Police Department, and chief deputy John Ford has issued a memo to sergeants urging them to have deputies patrol through town as often as possible.