Brownville needs public dialogue

The citizens of Brownville are again dealing with what was thought to be a resolved issue involving the police department.

At the March 2002 town meeting a two-man police department was voted in, as had been done for the last several years. Soon after an officer resigned and went to work for another department.

A new, non-Maine State Police Academy-trained officer was hired as a replacement. Shortly after the police chief resigned, forcing the town to scramble to seek proper and legal coverage.

A municipality must by law have an academy-trained officer, therefore the town entered into what was supposedly a temporary agreement with a neighboring town for a part-time chief, and other officers to provide coverage.

On Oct. 15 the town held an informational meeting for the public, to discuss matters related to this issue. Several options were discussed, such as sharing police responsibilities with the neighboring town, hiring either the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department or the state police for coverage.

At that meeting, the chairman of the board of selectmen stated that the board would comply with the community’s wishes. This meeting resulted in an overwhelming vote in favor of maintaining the status quo, whereby the town would maintain and operate a two-man department, independent of outside coverage with the exception of mutual aid assistance between departments. The vote by the board of selectmen at this meeting was a surprising 3-2 in favor of the above. There were upward of 200 people at that meeting.

The volume of people attending might suggest this issue was at the very least a hot-button one with the citizens, and that full agreement by the board of selectmen might have been expected. It was at the very least a fine showing of democracy in action. The majority rules; but apparently not in this case.

Applications for a new police chief went out. Shortly after, it was reported in the news that no qualified applicants were found, and the town would maintain its current use of the part-time chief and other officers from the neighboring community. During the application and interview process, one area police officer with several years experience, including having worked as a part-time officer for Brownville for several years, applied. His qualifications: a college degree, a three-year law degree, and the Maine State Police Academy.

This officer, with whom I have spoken on three occasions regarding this matter, received a letter and was rejected out of hand without being considered even for an interview.

After the intercession of one of the selectmen, this officer was granted an interview on a Wednesday. The following Friday he received a telephone call from the Brownville town manager, thanking him for his interest and informing him the town had decided it would not hire at this time and would be maintaining the situation with the neighboring town until the time of town meeting in the spring. The following week, this officer read in the paper that no qualified applications had been received. Do you think he isn’t upset? One might wonder what a qualified applicant’s credentials look like.

So, Brownville, now nearly three months since the October meeting, is still operating against the majority wishes of those assembled at that meeting.

Now, it is budget time again for our community, and on Jan. 2 a budget meeting was held. As I understand it, there were no provisions for a two-man, Brownville-only police department. It is not in the budget! How- ever, the current affiliation with the neighboring community is funded. How do you like that?

If it is the community’s desire to have its own police department, if it is a requirement for the elected officials of the community to follow the taxpayers’ wishes in this matter, you had better get involved and make your wishes known.

This perhaps could best be done by writing, as apparently some officials do not believe, or are not listening, to what is being said. Also, another budget meeting is being held Jan. 9, and you are allowed to attend as it is a public meeting and it is your community. It is also understood that as of about Jan. 23, there will be a regularly scheduled selectmen’s meeting. You, again, can attend and voice your opinion. At the very least, the issue should be forced to be budgeted for a two-man department, so that once and for all the citizens can vote on and have a say in their choice of whether or not to have an independent department.

John A. Owens is a resident of Brownville Junction.