County won’t bill for security Sheriff: Protection at hearing a service

GREENVILLE – Unlike the Maine State Police and the Greenville Police Department, the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department does not plan to seek reimbursement for security provided earlier this month at a public hearing on Plum Creek’s proposed development and conservation plan for the Moosehead Lake region.

“That’s a public service,” Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin said Wednesday of his department’s participation at the earlier public hearing and the department’s planned participation at a similar one set for January. Plum Creek is a taxpayer and to submit a bill for the protection afforded them would be double-dipping, he said.

Goggin said about 10 of his employees provided protection at the Greenville hearing, some of whom were on duty and others who were not. A similar number is expected to provide security next month. These individuals were paid through the department, he said. Goggin also noted that both he and Chief Deputy Dale Clukey, who are salaried employees, were among those who helped with security at the hearing.

The Maine State Police announced that it plans to bill the Seattle-based timber company for the security it has provided at the first three hearings in the state which included the Greenville hearing, as well as the final hearing in Greenville set for Jan. 19.

Also providing security at the Greenville hearing was the Greenville Police Department which plans to seek some reimbursement. Virtually all of the Greenville Police Department’s reserve officers provided security at the event, according to Greenville Town Manager John Simko.

“It did have an impact on us,” Simko said Wednesday, of the town’s small department. He did note, however, the police department would not request compensation for the considerable amount of time Greenville Police Chief Scott MacMaster had spent coordinating the security for the two hearings.