PARIS — Three members of the Board of Selectmen let Town Manager Amy Bernard know they weren’t pleased she internally promoted a reserve police officer to detective without letting them know first.

The issue was brought up during the Monday, Sept. 28 meeting by Selectman Vic Hodgkins. Reserve Officer Richard Belanger, who has worked for the Paris Police Department since August, was recently promoted to detective since that position has been temporarily vacated by Jeff Lange. Lange is serving as interim police chief since Chief Michael Madden’s last day is Friday, Oct. 2.

As a newcomer to the board, Hodgkins asked Bernard to walk him through the process. She told him the town needed someone to fulfill those job functions, and since it’s a union position, she had to open it up internally. Questions were asked by outside law enforcement personnel and the answers from the two candidates were rated. Bernard said she and Lange were pleased with the results.

“He is a qualified detective,” she said about Belanger. “I can give you a copy of his resume, but the bottom line is that we have open cases that need to be investigated and we really need to have that position held down.” 

Hodgkins asked if the promotion meant a pay raise. Bernard confirmed it did and said she saved money because the detective position is paid less than the lieutenant position Lange held. Belanger will be paid $23.44 per hour as a detective, according to the Teamsters Local Union 340 contract.

“Given the current conditions, I am a little surprised and taken back that you’ve gone ahead and decided to hire a detective without even consulting the selectboard,” Hodgkins said to Bernard about the public push for lowering taxes in town. His comments were followed by applause from the audience.

“I think there are serious cases going on in the community that need to have attention paid attention to them. I think the people would be surprised how many open cases we have and how many cases we get on a weekly basis,” Bernard said, which include domestic violence, drugs and theft. She noted the victims of these crimes and their families deserve to have justice served.

Selectman Sam Elliot asked if the district attorney would prosecute a case if it wasn’t brought forward by a detective. Lange said that wasn’t exactly the case and a patrolman could bring a case to the DA.

Lange noted the department has investigated two gross sexual assaults over the past two weeks, one of which involved a minor. Patrolmen aren’t trained in all the interviewing tactics detectives are, which could mean details are left out of the investigation when it heads to the DA’s office, he said.

Hogdkins, Selectmen Chairman Robert Wessels and Vice Chairman Mike Risica took issue with finding out about the promotion on Friday evening when the selectmen’s agenda was released to the general public.

“I think we should have had some discussion about this ahead of time. It may be a great move – it may be. I trust Jeff’s decisions,” Risica said about Lange. “I just think we should have been made aware of it.”

Bernard – who’s in charge of personnel – said it’s not prudent for her to fill selectmen in on every personnel-related issue she deals with. This is because it muddies the appeal process – if there are any – especially if an employee is upset that another one was promoted.

Selectmen would have to recuse themselves from the proceedings if they are aware of what’s going on ahead of time because they would have bias judgment, she said.

“I hire and I fire and unless you came to me and said, ‘I don’t want us to fill any of these positions,’ I would assume that you would want to fill a role of a detective in a town of this size,” Bernard said. “If we don’t have somebody who’s specifically tasked with that job then there are going to be issues bringing [cases] to trial.”

Risica said it might be a good idea to consider a hiring freeze in town, but no action was taken on the matter on Monday night.

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