The New Ipswich Select Board is divided on the recruitment process for their next police chief, as most of the board is advocating for an in-depth process while one member is pushing to forge ahead with a long-term interim appointment.
New Ipswich Police Chief Tim Carpenter intends to retire from his position within the month, and the Select Board has already selected his second, Lt. Mike Abel, to step in as acting chief until the position can be permanently filled.
The board has reached out to Municipal Resources, Inc., a company that assists municipalities with employment resources, about possibly assisting in the search and vetting candidates for the position.
Depending upon the breadth of services opted for by the town, the quote from Municipal Resources ranges between $7,500 and $9,000, according to Town Administrator Scott Butcher. The funds would be taken from the current police budget, from savings resulting from unfilled police officer positions.
During its meeting on June 8, Selectman Jason Somero suggested the town forgo the recruitment process in favor of having Abel in the position long-term.
“I think that the lieutenant has volunteered to step into this position and the climate for hiring police is not good,” Somero said. “For us to go forward to recruit outside, when we have someone, to me, is like, what are we doing to ourselves?”
Somero argued Abel is a known element, and is already trusted in an interim capacity to run the police department. He suggested the board could revisit the position in six months or a year, if there were concerns.
“This is not some wild card here,” Somero said.
Somero’s fellow Select Board members were in favor of continuing with a full recruitment process.
“I’m not saying Lt. Abel won’t ultimately be the choice, but at the same point, we need to make sure that we give the town the confidence that they need that they have the best chief in place, base on the police climate we have, instead of saying, ‘We hired [him] because it’s tough to get,’” Selectman John Veeser said.
Veeser said the funds for the search come from this year’s budget and would not impact next year’s taxes.
Select Board Chair Shawn Talbot said he didn’t see a compelling reason not to move forward with a full search.
“It doesn’t hurt anything to go through this process. I don’t see a negative,” Talbot said. He agreed that even if Abel was the town’s final choice, having him selected after a rigorous search process “[gave] more strength” to him in his new position.
The board did enter non-public with Abel to discuss hiring or compensation or an employee, to discuss the police chief position and other hiring matters within the police department.
Upon exiting the non-public session, the board sealed the minutes of the session. The only decision made within that session which was disclosed to the public was the decision to hire a part-time police administrator to replace outgoing assistant Mary Fortier.
The Select Board was scheduled to continue the police chief hiring discussion during its meeting Tuesday, but the meeting was cut short due to a failure to have a full quorum, and the discussion was tabled for the next meeting. Butcher confirmed Wednesday that the board has not yet made a final determination on whether or not to hire Municipal Resources, Inc., to assist in the police chief search.
“It is currently in a holding pattern, and I expect [the police chief search discussion] will remain on the agenda for the foreseeable future,” Butcher said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.