SABATTUS — The town has a new police chief.
Selectmen confirmed the hiring of longtime Portland officer Tony Ward in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night.
Ward said Wednesday that he’s excited about making the move from big city to small town.
“With a city like Portland, it’s hard to affect the whole community,” he said. “With an opportunity like Sabattus, you can have a more personal relationship with the town.”
Before its vote, the board had faced some questions from people interested in seeing someone within the department promoted into the seat. Two of the 56 applications for the chief’s job came from in-house, according to Town Manager Andrew Gilmore.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” Gilmore said Wednesday. “When you look at what Anthony has for 26 years, more than half of that in a supervisory position, the education, the training, the experience is unparalleled.
“I can tell anybody all the reasons why I advanced a particular candidate,” he added. “I can’t sit and talk about all the reasons I did not advance another.”
Selectmen Andrew Marquis was the lone dissenter. He said in an email that he would fully support Ward.
“My vote was not a reflection of my feelings on how well Chief Ward will perform the duties as chief, but merely a difference in opinion with Town Manager, who conducted a top-notch hiring process,” Marquis said.
He declined to elaborate on the difference of opinion.
Ward, who lives in Gray and plans to commute, is currently an internal affairs lieutenant and chief of police adjutant in Portland. He’ll be a working chief here, taking on administrative duties and patrolling.
He is due to start work Nov. 14 at a salary of $55,000.
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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