DIXFIELD — Town Manager Carlo Puiia told the Board of Selectmen during Monday evening’s meeting that he spoke with the Maine Chiefs of Police Association about filling the anticipated Chief of Police vacancy when Chief Richard Pickett retires.
Pickett plans to retire sometime in early 2015, Puiia said.
“I called the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and spoke with Bob Schwartz, the executive director,” Puiia told selectmen. “He told me that you should typically set aside three to four weeks to allow people to apply for the position. After that, you should form an Interview Committee to filter through the applications and narrow it down to two or three.”
Puiia said that Schwartz recommended that the committee consist of a “cross-section of people,” including a citizen, a businessman, a selectman and a police chief from another town.
Schwartz added that once the applicants are narrowed down, they should be subjected to background checks and a psychological evaluation.
Selectman Hart Daley said that he also wanted to require applicants to take a polygraph test.
“I also think that the Interview Committee should have at least two police administrators on it,” Daley said. “It’d be good to have a better balance of law enforcement on the committee. We could do a chief from another town, and maybe use one of the 16 sheriff’s throughout the state.”
Puiia said that he would ask Schwartz to draft a narrative of what the Maine Chiefs of Police Association would do to help Dixfield with the application process.
In other business, the Board of Selectmen reviewed a preliminary draft of the Recall of Elected Officials Ordinance.
During the Aug. 25 board meeting, selectmen reviewed drafts of recall ordinances from several Maine towns, including Mexico, Peru and Rumford, and agreed to review them to figure out what would work best for the town.
Puiia said that he took suggestions from the Board of Selectmen after the Aug. 25 meeting and arranged them into a preliminary draft.
“I think this is a good start for us,” Puiia said. “There’s still some work that needs to be done and some questions that need to be answered, but this draft has a lot of what is required for a recall ordinance.”
Selectman Norman Mitchell said that any recall ordinance should “be easy enough for the residents to do, but not easy enough to be frivolously done.”
“There needs to be a balance,” Mitchell added.
Puiia said that selectmen should read through the draft and prepare any suggested changes for their next meeting on Monday, Oct. 13.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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- Chairman Scott Belskis, middle, answers a question posed by police Chief Richard Pickett, not pictured, during Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, while Selectman Norman Mitchell, left, and Town Manager Carlo Puiia listen.
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