DIXFIELD — Selectmen decided Monday evening to postpone the appointment of a reserve police officer until they have more information about him.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia presented a list of annual appointments for the Board of Selectmen to approve. The appointments included new reserve police officer Ronald B. Wood.

Selectman Hart Daley asked Puiia for additional information about Wood.

“There’s not much here about him,” Daley said. “I’m not comfortable making the appointment until I hear from the chief.”

Police Chief Jeff Howe was not at Monday evening’s meeting, though Puiia said he had informed him of it.

Daley added that it would be nice to know where Wood is from, where he has served, and “to put a face to the name.”

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The board agreed to table the appointment until Howe was able to attend a meeting and speak about Wood.

The board also decided to table a vote on whether to maintain Dana Whittemore as a member of the RSU 10 Withdrawal Committee.

Puiia said that Whittemore was a member of the committee because he was on the Board of Selectmen.

“Dana was not re-elected to the board this year, so I asked lawyer Kristen Collins for her opinion,” Puiia said.

Collins wrote in an email that the Withdrawal Committee seat does not automatically vacate if a selectman is not re-elected, and that the withdrawal statute doesn’t provide anything for that scenario.

“While someone could certainly try to challenge a vote on that technicality, there are no more official withdrawal committee votes to take,” Collins wrote. “I think a better course of action would be for the selectmen to vote to keep Dana in the seat in the interest of continuity.”

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She said that the only meetings that remained were public hearings at which the committee would provide the history and rationale behind the agreement.

Puiia said he had spoken with Whittemore, who expressed interest in remaining on the board.

Daley said he had recently spoken with Whittemore and sensed that he was “having second thoughts about it.”

Puiia said he would speak to Whittemore again about whether he wished to remain on the committee.

Selectman Eugene Skibitsky said that if Whittemore wasn’t interested in staying on the committee, he should “file a letter of resignation so the board can move forward.”

In other business, the selectmen voted to enter a summer schedule for the months of July and August.

Puiia said the meetings will still take place at 5:30 p.m. Monday, but for the months of July and August, the board will meet only once monthly, instead of the usual two meetings per month.

The board unanimously voted to schedule a July 11 and Aug. 9 meeting, and to schedule special town meetings if any business comes up.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net


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