RUMFORD — Faced with two vacancies in the Police Department this week and a looming third, selectmen Thursday night authorized Chief Stacy Carter to hire two trained officers from area departments.

They are Joseph Sage and Bradley Gallant. Sage is a former Rumford reserve officer working for the Livermore Falls Police Department, and Gallant is a Mexico police officer nearly halfway through law enforcement training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro.

“The silver lining is they’re trained and they’re local, so hopefully, we’ll have some longevity out of them,” Carter said.

He said Sage has seven years of law enforcement experience with the Livermore Falls department and will replace acting Cpl. Scott Mills who resigned this month to move elsewhere. Sage trained at the academy five years ago.

“The good part about (Sage) is he’s academy-trained, he has a lot of qualifications as an instructor and investigator,” Carter said. “The other positive thing is that he’s from the area and that’s been a problem in the past in trying to attract and hire people local.”

“As you’re well aware from what I bring to you, we have officers that are very good officers, but they’re from away,” he said. “We train them, we employ them for a few years, and then they migrate back to where they’re from to be closer to family, and that’s the situation we’re in right now.”

Carter said the second vacancy happened when recently-hired utility officer Rick Kent left to return to his Rumford code enforcement officer job. Kent was hired to help Carter reduce overtime when officers were on vacation, out sick, in training or deployed by the military.

Gallant, he said, will take Kent’s place.

Selectman Greg Buccina then asked if the town had to pay for Gallant’s training in Vassalboro.

Carter said Rumford would have to pay for the remainder of Gallant’s training at the academy, his wages for those weeks and tuition.

“It’s approximately a $7,000 investment,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, even at $7,000, it’s a savings rather than buying somebody that has no training, and then we have to put them through the training program once they get here.”

“How come there’s no option of getting a little smaller?” Selectman Mark Belanger asked.

“Let me refresh your memories,” Carter said. “Back last year, I had two officers get deployed. Sgt. (David) Bean had announced his retirement for next month. The board approved hiring early to cover and fill Sgt. Bean’s vacancy when he leaves, but in the interim, to cover the vacancies of the deployed officers so I wouldn’t have to cover that with time and a half, that officer was Rick Kent. He is no longer with us.”

“The only reason my head’s above water in my budget is because I’ve had a utility officer,” Carter said.

To remain under budget, he said he must fill the two vacancies.

“To compound that, yesterday Patrolman Ian Theriault announced that he’s in the process of looking for another apartment, so he could go in a month,” Carter said.

The chief said he’s not increasing the size of the Police Department, but rather, trying to remain at the board-approved and allocated size.

Additionally, filling the vacancies will prevent job burnout in officers being asked to work regular shifts and an additional shift to maintain level of service and keep two officers on duty instead of one. Having a utility officer also saves $7,000 to $8,000 in overtime, Carter said.

“If I don’t have a utility officer, I have one officer out there and that’s not safe, so the utility officer now is a desperate need,” Carter said.

When Mills hires on with another town’s police department, Carter said Rumford would get reimbursed $30,000, because Rumford paid to send Mills to the academy earlier this year.

Selectmen OK’d hiring Sage and Gallant by a 4-1 vote, with Belanger dissenting.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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