FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to accept two senior law enforcement officers’ resignations as of April 30.
Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Niles Yeaton of Strong and jail transport officer Cpl. Albert Smith of Wilton plan to retire after decades of service to the county.
The positions will be posted in-house.
Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said he has set up an interview board that includes detectives from Maine State Police and Oxford County to help screen candidates.
In other police matters, commissioners voted unanimously to increase the Sheriff’s Department’s reimbursement rate cap for patrol deputies to $36.60 per hour for police details.
The current rate is $28 per hour.
Details are work assignments outside the scope of normal patrol activity that may require to pay an officer overtime because it is over and above what their normal schedule is, Nichols said.
The current rate cap does not cover overtime costs for a senior deputy, he said. That means the county loses money, he said. The new rate would cover overtime expenses for a senior officer, he said.
The county normally receives grants for certain law enforcement activities.
The purpose of most grants is to concentrate law enforcement in a certain geographic area to conduct a certain activity, he said.
For example, “if we obtain an (operating under the influence) grant to conduct OUI enforcement, we would not use the staff that is already out on patrol providing services to the rest of the county,” Nichols said. “We would use available additional officers to form a detail to specifically work on OUI enforcement. That way you do not take away from the officers who are doing normal patrol functions. You would set up those type of details in an area known to be a problem either in certain locations or at certain times of the year.”
Commissioners also approved adding two people to the part-time reserve list to serve as deputies. Nichols recommended William Tanner of Strong, a full-time Farmington police officer, and Wallace Spencer of Kingfield, a certified reserve officer for the Carrabassett Valley Police Department.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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