The Rindge Police Department was given the selectmen’s blessing to begin the process of purchasing a police-rated pickup truck for the fleet.
Police Chief Daniel Anair approached the board on Wednesday, requesting that he be given the authority to begin the purchasing process for a 2018 Ford F-150 Police Responder Super Crew, which would be purchased as the department’s newest cruiser. Anair will still need final approval from the board before he purchases the vehicle.
“If we have to do a road closure, the barricades don’t fit in the back of the cruiser,” said Anair, who said larger pieces of evidence, like bicycles, also do not fit in back of the current cruisers. Presently, the department uses and officer’s truck or the animal control officer’s truck.
Anair said the department is scheduled to replace a cruiser this year, and funds for the purchase will come from the detail revolving fund, meaning there will be no tax impact. The fund has about $91,000 in it, including outstanding bills for police detail work already completed.
The truck will replace the department’s Ford Taurus, which would become the detail vehicle and replace the current Crown Victoria. This would leave the detail vehicle and the chief’s car as the only sedans left in the fleet. The rest of the cruisers have been converted to SUV models.
Including outfitting and other related costs, the truck will cost $47,234, which is comparable to other cruiser purchases, according to Anair. The truck will be police-rated, meaning prisoners can be transported in it.
Anair said Peterborough has a truck in its fleet, but it is not police-rated, meaning it cannot be used for police response.
There had previously been an item on the agenda labeled “amendment to the police chief agreement” but board chair Jim Qualey said that discussion would first happen in a non public session on a different meeting day.
Qualey was elected in a 2-1 vote to be the board’s chair and Robert Hamilton was voted to be the vice chair by a vote of 2-1. Oeser said she couldn’t vote for either, after observing each of them openly support her competitor, Tom Coneys, in the March election.
The board officially delegated stewardship of a town-owned piece of property on Abel Road to the town’s conservation commission, paving the way for the commission to preserve the land and create a public recreation area.
The 6.3-acre plot of land is located south of Route 119 and Pearly Lake and is mostly forested. A section of Tarbell Brook is also located on the property.
The board discussed the recently reported town report, noting a few mistakes in the current edition.
Town Administrator Joe Byk said there was some sort of glitch that happened, meaning that not all of the deliberative session minutes were included.
Oeser and members of the public noted a few other mistakes, that will be passed on to correct.
Oeser said the town should consider not paying the publishing company the fully negotiated price, due to the town reports not arriving on time.
Byk and Executive Secretary Michele Christian both defended paying full price, as the town made deadline to get the reports published in time, but a few switches on the town’s part, coupled with bad weather meant the reports arrived after the agreed upon time.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.