By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Selectpeople were hoping that the community would express their views for the 2013 budget during a public hearing on March 21, and they certainly got what they asked for; nearly 70 citizens and their opinions turned out for the event, most to show their opposition to the proposed reduction of police patrol hours from 24 down to 18.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Board members, from left, front row, Danny Gahagan Sr., Jimmy Pelletier, Gary O’Neal, Tom Devoe and Fred Pelletier, standing, were hoping that the community would turn out for the March 21 public hearing to provide input on the 2013 budget; the board certainly got what they asked for, as residents attended in record numbers to make their voices heard.
Discussion continued well beyond an hour in an over-crowded schoolroom that was hot from the day’s record-breaking temperatures, but despite different opinions and the intermittent sarcastic/heated words, community members seemed unified in maintaining the town’s law enforcement services.
The hearing had three proposed talking points based on changes proposed by the selectpeople for the 2012-13 budget, including increasing a part-time administrative position at the town office into a full-time position, reducing the police department’s coverage hours down to 18 hours from its current round-the-clock services, and the proposed combination of two seasonal positions with the highway department (a winter plow truck driver and a summer maintenance position) into one full-time position that would potentially also be responsible for performing routine maintenance on municipal vehicles.
No idea, notion or municipal entity was discussed so thoroughly as the police department, particularly since there are few tangible figures or facts associated with any cost savings that would come by reducing coverage hours.
Limestone Police Chief Stacey Mahan did share his experiences with the crowd from when the department tentatively tried 18-hour coverage in 2009 to see how it would fare.
As Mahan explained, the department received two calls during the on-call hours.
One call turned out to be nothing — what was thought to be a potential break-in at a vacant home was really just a light left on in the garage by the building’s caretaker.
The other was a domestic violence situation, where the emergency call came only after a neighbor heard the woman involved screaming, “call the police.”
“In one week we had two calls,” Mahan told the audience, explaining that it was just a sample week and the town could have theoretically gone the rest of the month without additional on-call emergencies.
Former Limestone Police Officer Jim Phelps explained the amount of time it can take for an on-call officer to respond to a scene, based on his experiences, and response time can get even longer during winter — when additional time must be added for the on-call officer to remove snow from their personal vehicle before driving to the police station, where the officer then cleans the snow off a police car as well before responding to the emergency.
Tom Marquis asked Chief Mahan what kinds of crime Limestone sees.
Mahan explained that the town does have its fair share of domestic violence and assaults.
“We had two guys go at each other with knives last week,” he added.
Tentative hours of on-call would include between 3 and 7 a.m. (as calls to services are least during those hours), but many in the audience opposed decreasing police protection — some even stood, vocalizing that they were dead-set against cutting police department hours.
Though taxes are certainly a concern in any municipality, resident Marilyn King asked the selectpeople how decreasing police coverage might affect places like the Loring Job Corps Center and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics — two job-creating educational institutions with youths residing in Limestone dormitories.
The human element was another heavy factor that weighed on the crowd, as a lot can happen in a minute.
Not only does Limestone’s 24/7 patrols mean an officer is always waiting to respond, Limestone police officers often become the first-responders to medical emergencies. One of the town’s full-time officers, for example, received a recognition plaque just this January for using CPR to save an individual’s life during summer of 2011 as he arrived on the scene before paramedics.
Such conversational points led individuals to ask, “What is the value you place on someone’s life?”
Annette Pelletier asked the board what would happen if she were attacked during those six hours that police were on-call.
“Do I have to defend myself for 45 minutes before the police show up?” she asked. “What am I paying taxes for?”
Others expressed their concerns that the town would be leaving itself wide open to crime, particularly since preliminary talks have not included staggering coverage hours, as it’s not just law-abiding citizens who would be paying attention to when Limestone’s officers were and were not on duty.
Early into the meeting, the question was posed “Is there anyone who sees this as a potentially good thing?”
On a couple occasions, a few audience members brought up Limestone’s rising taxes as a need to decrease the police budget (which was listed as $236,114 in the first draft of the 2013 budget, up from $228,560 in 2012 and down from $258,152 in 2011.)
Selectperson Gary O’Neal explained to the audience that the reason the selectpeople are looking at various ways to cut the budget is because “no one wants the mil rate to go up.”
It was also questioned whether or not the LDA Board of Directors would approve of Limestone’s 18-hour police coverage, as the LDA currently pays Limestone $46,500 for police coverage.
One resident in the crowd asked the selectpeople if the Border Patrol could fill in during the police department’s on-call gap that comes with the proposed 18-hour coverage, citing that she often sees [Border Patrol agents] in the community anyway.
Dennis Harmon, Patrol Agent in Charge of the Fort Fairfield Border Patrol Station, attended the public hearing and explained that providing law enforcement coverage for the community was not the department’s job.
Harmon told the audience that while Border Patrol agents frequently provide back-up for other law enforcement agencies and would continue doing so, “Our job is the border and where it takes us.”
Border Patrol wasn’t the only outside law enforcement agency that was mentioned during the meeting; one resident told the board he’d heard that Limestone was looking to contract police services with the city of Caribou.
Selectpeople quickly debunked that rumor as false.
At the end of the meeting, Larry Huckins asked his fellow residents “does anybody want [a reduction of police hours]?”
Neither hand nor voice was raised in response.
Questions were also posed about the newly proposed full-time positions for administration and public works.
Town Manager Donna Bernier explained that as she and the town clerk approach retirement, someone will need to be trained to manage the town and explained that it would take at least two years to train a replacement.
The crowd also seemed interested in the idea of having an in-house mechanic/public works employee to perform routine maintenance and small repairs but some speculated that they didn’t see where the cost savings would come in, as the town would have to pay for insurance for the full-time employee (which it doesn’t for the two regularly existing part-time jobs).
After inquiring as to how these two new proposed positions would affect the mil rate (by increasing insurance costs), Paul Poitras commented that “you’re not going to attract people into this town with a high tax rate.”
Though all proposed changes are still purely theoretical, Selectperson Chair Fred Pelletier explained that Limestone’s budget hasn’t contained any frills for the past three years.
“Most departments here are down to the bare bones,” Reid Nonken commented. “If we don’t want to cut our services, what do we do?” he questioned the board.
“Raise taxes,” selectperson Tom Devoe answered.
“No, that’s not what you want to do,” Nonken explained. “You want to promote businesses.”
Town officials explained that while grants are currently being sought to revitalize downtown Limestone, “it will be at least two years before you see any brick and mortar changes on Main Street,” Bernier said.
As the public hearing concluded, the crowd expressed that they would like access to detailed budgets so that they may be better informed while deliberating the figures.
The selectpeople invited the community to attend their next budget meeting, scheduled for tonight at 6:30 in the Limestone Municipal Building.
