MADAWASKA – Manpower and caps on overtime are major issues when it comes to fulfilling border inspections, Maine’s senior senator was told Tuesday afternoon by border station administrators.

Port directors explained that it takes a long time to hire personnel and another three months to train them before they can take on duties at the border.

In the meantime, caps on overtime costs for full-time employees are keeping experienced inspectors off the front lines. They are replaced with part-time workers, some of whom were hired off the street to fill staffing needs.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the U.S. Army command that oversees troops in the United States is recommending that some of the National Guard troops now working on the Canadian and Mexican borders be armed.

In a memo written Friday, the Atlanta-based Force Command recommended that some of the soldiers working on the borders, including all the soldiers at border crossings in New York and New England, carry 9 mm pistols.

The memo was sent up the chain of command to the Norfolk, Va.-based Joint Forces Command, the headquarters responsible for the military’s homeland defense mission.

Separately, a representative of the secretary of defense said the decision not to arm the troops would be reconsidered.

Port directors from Fort Kent, Madawaska and Van Buren, as well as Bert Magnus of Houlton, area port director for Aroostook County, met with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday.

“We need to work on getting the additional people you need because that’s important,” Snowe told the federal employees. “We also need to work out some of the regulatory issues you have brought up.

“The border up north has been neglected,” she said outside the meeting. “We will have to work to see that they get what they need to do their jobs.”

Snowe said the number of inspectors on the northern border still is inadequate.

The Madawaska port of entry, one of the busiest in the Northeast with 3,000 vehicles a day, is staffed by 16 full-time employees for both customs and immigration duties. Port officials were promised 10 more employees after the Sept. 11 attacks, but only one has come through since then.

Yet the border inspection stations are on full-alert status. In the last two weeks, one person from the National Guard was added to each day and night shift. The Guardsmen do only cargo work, such as taking items off trucks for inspection, and are not on the front line.

Magnus also is concerned about the regulation governing the arming of members of the National Guard.

At remote stations, where there is one regular inspector and one Guardsman, Magnus said the unarmed Guardsmen, who also cannot be on the front line of inspections, are there to “keep the inspector company.”

For nearly two months after Sept. 11, cars crossing at Madawaska were inspected in both directions. While that level of inspection has been reduced, personnel still are on heightened alert.

“We would be well-staffed here with the additional people we have been promised,” Lloyd Woods, area port director for immigration, said.

“Our full-time inspectors know most people who come across at this port,” Ray Tardif, Madawaska customs port director, said. “Strangers coming across get a more intensive screening.”

The overtime cap never had been a problem before Sept. 11. Inspectors did not get enough overtime pay to reach the upper limits of the cap. That has changed. The overtime cap, according to senior inspector Fred Sirois, includes shift differential payments, overtime pay, Sunday and holiday pay.

“Overtime caps are a hindrance,” Sirois said. “Inspectors want the overtime to supplement their salaries.”

Magnus, area port director, said the problem has been magnified by the retirement of some inspectors and with others being on sick leave. Regular inspectors cannot work when they have reached the statutory overtime cap limit. It also removes the officers from the roster for night and weekend shifts, because of salary differentials for those shifts.

For some time after Sept. 11, port directors were told not to worry about overtime caps. Since then, the order has been rescinded.

Magnus said it takes six to eight months to hire people, because of background checks and all the regulations. Once hired, personnel have to attend an 11-week academy before going to work at border crossings.