WILTON – Town officials Tuesday reviewed a draft of a policy regarding public notification of sex offenders living here. Residents who attended the public hearing gave their input as well.

At the last selectmen’s meeting resident Kaaron Wadsworth presented officials with a petition asking that the Police Department notify the community when a sex offender is in town. There are currently three known sex offenders in Wilton, including Wadsworth’s former husband, Dennis Ayala.

Wadsworth took it upon herself to notify the community about her ex-husband by putting up postings around town. The postings were removed.

Ayala was eventually arrested for not registering as a sex offender.

Town Manager Peter Nielsen said policies from the towns of Bangor, Farmington and Lincolnville, as well as the Maine Chiefs of Police Association were gathered and a half page draft was drawn up for selectmen to consider.

Former Department of Human Services Child Protective Services Worker Sandra Wyman told officials she thinks they need to find out when the state notifies towns of the presence of a sex offender and how much time the offender has to register as such. Wyman, who was a Child Protective Services worker for 10 years, said she feels notification should be made within 24 hours, rather than the seven days spelled out in the policy draft.

Wyman also pointed out that only certain offenders are required to register according to the severity and nature of their offense.

Also at issue was a statement in the policy requiring the notification of “people living next door” to an offender. The consensus was to somehow change that wording to include the notification of others in a given area.

Others felt notification to schools and daycare centers should be mandatory rather than an option currently listed in the policy draft along with possible sources of notification that includes, television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

Nielsen said a state committee has recently been formed to look into establishing protocol for such notification that all towns are expected to be required to follow. Therefore, any policy the town makes will probably need to be changed fairly soon, he said.

Nielsen recommended keeping the town’s policy as short and simple as possible and still allow the town’s police chief some discretion in notification procedures.

Nielsen said there is currently a state Web site the public can access to find a list of registered sex offenders.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Web site suggests contacting local law enforcement for such information.

Wyman will meet with Nielsen and Wilton Police Chief James Parker to further discuss changes to the draft. Parker was unable to attend the meeting due to required police training. Officials will continue discussions of the proposed policy at their next meeting.