The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, July 18. Chair Kimberley Emberg said on June 22 they received an email letting them know that Police Chief Maurice Splaine did not intend on renewing his contract which expires in February. She wished him well in his retirement and thanked him publicly for his service to the town.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey recommended to the Selectmen that they consider hiring a search committee to do an external search. “That doesn’t exclude any internal candidates from applying for the position; they would apply for the Police Chief position and if they were deemed to be in competition with any external candidate that applied, they would certainly go through that process and potentially be hired,” Hickey said. He continued, “In doing that, what I have found in the past… is that if an internal candidate gets hired, it provides the internal candidate some credibility with the Department and the community that they made it through the process and they are the best candidate for Police Chief and not just an internal promotion.” He also said that Duxbury is currently going through a Police Chief search now and he spoke to the company that is handling the search. Hickey told the Selectmen that the search would take 3-4 months to find and vet candidates to bring before the Board.
Hickey also suggested that they hire a firm to do a study of the current Police Department to make recommendations to the Selectmen regarding staffing levels, policies and procedures, and building needs. He said that it would be an impartial take on the Department that could be used to justify decisions made by the Selectmen as well as inform votes taken at Town Meeting. Selectman Sheila Vaughn asked about the costs of hiring these external firms. Hickey said that the evaluation would cost between $20 to $25,000 and the Police Chief search would be another $20 to $25,000.
Selectman Eric Crone argued that the Police Department might not need or want to have an independent evaluation done. He suggested that the Police Chief might be the best person to assess the Department’s needs. He also said he would be interested in hearing the thoughts of the Mass Chiefs of Police or IECP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) on the evaluation and asked Hickey about potentially reaching out to those entities.
Vaughn argued that it would be hard to do an expensive evaluation for one department, but not others. She said she felt it was a lot of money to ask for both the evaluation and the hiring firm. Vice Chair Donald Alcombright said, “At least to me, I think the benefit of it is you bring an outside perspective to a new Chief coming in that’s not clouded in anything; here’s the information, this is what we saw – you can do as you want with it, but I think that independent information could be beneficial to a new Chief coming in. Emberg said that it sounded as though the Selectmen were mostly in favor of hiring a firm to conduct the Police Chief search while the issue of whether to do the independent evaluation was less clear. They agreed to take steps toward hiring a firm for the search.
Hickey also said that the Selectmen may want to consider sponsoring a Town Meeting article that would remove the Strong Police Chief. Hickey explained the Strong Police Chief as, “a Police Chief that has basically complete authority over the Department, answers directly to the Board of Selectmen, and provides direct oversight for all of the staff in the Police Department. The alternative is to have a Police Chief that works for the Town Manager/Town Administrator… and answers to that position as most other department heads would.” A Police Chief that is a Strong Chief has hiring and firing authority as opposed to non-Strong Chiefs. Vaughn asked if most neighboring communities had a Strong Police Chief. Hickey said he was unable to find that information after a search but said that he suspects that as communities have become more professionalized, the Strong Police and Fire Chief positions have likely become fewer. Hickey recommended that if they were going to make the change, they do so before hiring a new Chief. The Board appeared to be mostly against making the move to restructure the Police Department in this way and agreed to table it for the time being. They noted that the fall town meeting would be too short of notice to bring such a change before the town for a vote.
Emberg said that there were a number of Boards and Committees that had vacancies. Those included openings on the Finance Committee, Community Preservation Committee, Capital Planning, Cultural Commission, Rent Control Board, Ichabod Washburn Fund Trustees, Old Colony Elder Affairs Board of Directors, Board of Registrars (Republican seat), and the Housing Authority. The Council on Aging also needs a volunteer to deliver for Meals on Wheels. The Board of Selectmen will hold a joint meeting with the sewer commissioners on August 1 to fill a vacant sewer commissioner position.
Emberg also went over several upcoming events including music nights at Grays Beach on August 15 and August 29 at 6 p.m. A movie night will be held on August 10 at dusk. A farmer’s market will be held on Sunday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. National Night Out will take place on Aug 8 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Silver Lake Regional Middle School. Emberg said it “will feature food, refreshments, pony rides, public safety vehicles, K-9 demonstrations, a DJ, and more.” Laura Casey-Pupek, of the Police Department, spoke saying they still had vendor openings available for National Night Out.
The Selectmen also dealt with a number of appointments. Mary Hayes was appointed to the Council on Aging for a three-year term and Kathy Studley was appointed to a one-year term as an alternate. The Selectmen also voted unanimously to appoint Jennifer Alukonis to a two-year term on the Affordable Housing Trust.
Vaughn went over some recent donations including $800 in gift cards from an anonymous donor to the Veteran’s Department. There was also a $10,500 donation from the Kingston Public Library Foundation to the library programs. Of the donations, Vaughn said, “Woohoo, awesome!”