PARIS — Chief Deputy Hart Daley told the Oxford County Commissioners during their Tuesday, Jan. 16 meeting, that there are two full-time police officers who are academy graduates that have expressed interest in filling the department’s full-time patrol deputy position.

Daley said that the position became open after a patrol deputy submitted his resignation.

“One individual we’re in the process of speaking with, and the other reached out to us from the Penobscot area,” Daley told the commissioners. “He told us that he’s looking to relocate and asked for an application packet.”

Daley said that both officers are currently serving in full-time positions with other agencies, and neither would require a buy-out.

“We also had several applicants who haven’t been to the academy, but are looking for us to pick them up, support them and pay for them to go through the academy,” Daley explained. “That’s a possibility, but if there’s a full-time officer who’s not a buy-out, that’s a better financial move for us.”

In other business, County Administrator Scott Cole told Daley that he wanted to make sure his deputies were using local vendors, or vendors close to where the deputies live, for vehicle maintenance rather than making long trips to vendors outside of town.

Cole told Daley that he had heard rumors that a deputy had taken one of the cruisers “all the way to Rumford” to have work done on a cruiser.

“Now, to be fair, those questions from the public may be based on fact or fiction,” Cole said. “The practice has been that deputies will pick a vendor that works best for them based on where they live. By and large, we get our work done on the vehicles for fair prices, but it wouldn’t make sense to have someone driving from here to Rumford just to get their tires fixed.”

Daley said that to his knowledge, his deputies have utilized local vendors or vendors close to where they live.

“Sometimes, they’ll stop at a place on the way from their house to work, and if it’s a job that will take several hours or several days, they’ll drop off the car, get picked up by another deputy and utilize a spare vehicle,” Daley said.

He added that “all of our local vendors charge within dollars of each other.”

“I don’t think any deputies are going outside of town for a better deal,” Daley said.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net