Small-town politics or union issues? Sabattus police await funds

SABATTUS — In the middle of September, morale at the Sabattus Police Department spiked higher than it had been in years.

Nearly 100 residents voted enthusiastically to keep the town police force intact and to spend an additional $80,000 to sustain it.

At the time, the department was down four officers from its regular force of nine, but suddenly there was light at the end of the tunnel — with $80,200 in hand, the department could give its officers the raises they deserved and money could be used to lure more good officers to the town.

But now three months have passed, that money has yet to be used for anything and the police force is down to three officers, one of whom is out on a long medical leave.

One by one, police officers have been leaving for greener pastures and the old shadow of doubt seems to have fallen once more over the department.

On Dec. 14, Officer Mike Rioux worked his last shift in the town. His departure was on the heels of Sgt. Michael Chaine, who left the department to work in his hometown of Bridgton.

Once again, the residents of Sabattus were seeing their force falling apart before their eyes, and after such happy news in September.

The demands for answers have grown louder with each passing day.

Why have raises not been doled out to the existing officers?

Why has not a single penny of that $80,000 been spent?

“Our votes meant nothing,” one resident groused on Facebook last week. “This is a failure of the Sabattus government.”

“Small town boys club politics,” declared a local woman. “How do you ever expect to keep the officers you have and recruit if you block them every step of the way?”

Some accused the new town manager, Timothy Kane, of dragging his feet in the matter of money for the police force. Others pointed fingers at the Board of Selectmen, accusing certain members of conniving to have the department dismantled for a variety of personal reasons.

Former Sabattus police Chief Sheila Wetherbee, who spent five years on the force, said she could personally attest to a history of obstruction from the board when it comes to police matters.

“From what my five years of experience there showed me, the select board does not let the town manager do the job that they hired him to do. A lot of games are played,” Wetherbee said. “It’s a shame because the people who live in that town, the people who pay taxes and vote, they really need to know what’s going on and they need to hold their public officials accountable. That’s not happening.”

Kane, just three months on the job, is appalled by the rumors and accusations. The men and women on the Board of Selectmen, he insists, want exactly the same things that the citizens do: an intact police force able to keep current officers and to recruit new ones.

“The board, contrary to popular belief by a few out there, voted for this,” Kane said Thursday. “The board has been supportive.”

The delay in the release of that $80,000 voters so boisterously voted for, Kane said, is due, not to small-town politics, but to an issue with the police union.

Sabattus police, Kane said, are represented by the New England Police Benevolent Association, and are under contract with that group until Dec. 31.

The officers are in the process of leaving that union to join the Fraternal Order of Police, however, and Kane said it is that process that has held up the disbursement of money meant for raises and other perks.

Since police wish to deal with the new union rather than the old, negotiations have not been able to move forward.

“We want to get the money in but I can’t do it because they’re not going to negotiate with their present bargaining unit,” Kane said. “So again, my hands are tied. We tried and tried. By no means is anyone dragging their feet. We’re not doing that, we just have to go through the legal steps.”

Kane said he has reached out to the Fraternal Order of Police and has settled on a date in early January — after the expiration of the former union contract — to begin negotiations.

Kane also disputes that the officers who left the department in recent weeks did so because they had not been given raises.

“The officers who left knew the money was coming,” he said. “They just had to wait until they could bargain with the new union. They chose to move to other positions back in their hometowns, to be closer to home. I can respect that. What works for you and your family is what you need to do.”

Chaine, who went to work for police in Bridgton after leaving Sabattus, disputes Kane’s assessment of things.

“I cannot speak for anyone else,” he said, “but I can tell you that the absence of money was a huge factor.”

According to Chaine, after the vote in September, police officers in Sabattus thought the $80,200 approved by the voters would be forthcoming right away. That, Chaine said, would have resulted in immediate improvements to both the department and the morale of its officers.

“I can state for a fact the this would have made it possible to fill several of the open positions, relieving the remaining officers, including myself, from very limited to no time off being allowed …,” Chaine said. “It would have certainly showed the remaining officers that they mattered.”

Chaine and others see Kane’s raising of the union issue as a convenient stall. There was no reason, said Chaine, who was union president before he left Sabattus, why negotiations could not have gotten underway at once.

“This was never a union negotiation issue as claimed,” Chaine said. “Whether the remaining staff were changing unions doesn’t matter. Whether the current contract is expected to expire doesn’t matter. This was never a negotiation. The union never asked for the money. An amendment to the article contract was certainly possible. The additional funds were approved, as I stated earlier, to increase retention and recruitment. That money never came to light while I was there.”

Like others, Chaine also accused the town manager and the select board of failing to fulfill promises that had been made to the officers — promises Chaine said had lured him to the department in the first place.

Among those promises made was an agreement that Chaine could continue working on Wreaths Across America, an event in December dedicated to remembering the sacrifices veterans have made in wars since the American Revolution.

“For me personally, the last straw was treatment of our members by the town manager and selectman,” he said. “When I left my position with the city of Auburn, I immediately took a pay cut and returned to the road (in Sabattus) working patrol shifts. Much of the reasoning that I chose to do so revolved around promises that were made to me by former Chief Wetherbee and former Town Manager Tony Ward that would allow me to remain active in specific organizations.

Both Wetherbee and Ward retired earlier than expected, Chaine said, “and one would have believed that the selectman and new town manager would recognize and honor those promises that were used to entice me to Sabattus, especially in this current state of a nationwide law enforcement officer shortage. Instead the town manager and selectmen chose their own personal agenda instead of supporting me.”

The department has been without a chief since Wetherbee left in July. Lt. Dan Davies, serving as the interim chief, is out on medical leave and was not available for comment.

Matt Prince, who served 10 years on the Sabattus police force before leaving as a lieutenant in 2016, is among those who have doubts about the future of the department — with or without the $80,200 to sustain it.

Prince, now a captain on an airline in Indianapolis, said there have always been serious problems between town government and the Police Department.

“It’s definitely been a compounding problem,” Prince said. “Poor management coupled with unethical behavior, politics, self aggrandizement, preferential treatment. Then add the difficulty of vetting, training and retaining competent employees while offering low pay, no training or special programs and little opportunity for growth or promotion. I used to call SPD the ‘island of misfit cops.’

“It’s sad,” Prince went on. “I poured myself into that place, worked 80 hours a week at times on salary. I hated to see the place fail but I’m also not surprised.”

THINGS ARE TOUGH ALL OVER

When town officials and residents were still deciding whether to keep their department or dismantle it, the other option was to have the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office provide police coverage for the town. There were a few on the board at the time who favored that kind of arrangement.

Sheriff Eric Samson said he is still willing to provide that coverage, if it comes to that. He cannot, however, offer that kind of structured system of coverage on a temporary basis. His department, Samson said, is presently covering county towns that have no police departments while providing backup coverage for others that do, such as Mechanic Falls, where police staffing has been a problem.

So what happens in Sabattus while efforts are underway to bring the department back up to snuff?

Kane said the town is advertising to fill the open positions. In the meantime, he has reached out to several other agencies, including Maine State Police, the Sheriff’s Office and Lisbon police, in hopes of getting backup coverage in emergencies.

“They’ve all been fantastic people to work with,” Kane said.

Samson said his department will try its best to respond to emergencies in Sabattus while their staffing issues remain, although he advised town officials to also seek help from other agencies, like Lewiston and Lisbon.

“We’ve all got the same thing in mind,” Samson said. “To provide public safety in emergency situations as best as we can. So, we’re using all these resources in order to support the town until they get their Police Department back up to staffing level.”

Samson was at the meeting in September when residents voted to keep their department. He has no qualms with that, he said, and hopes their efforts are successful.

“At this point, I believe they’re putting their best foot forward to try to recruit members for their agency,” Samson said. “And hopefully they have some immediate success. It’s a hard thing to do.”

Locally, the Sabattus department serves as a kind of symbol of what so many departments are going through across the nation.

Just five years ago, it had nine officers, a full-time detective, multiple reserve officers and one of the highest case clearance rates in the state.

But like so many others across the country, it has had trouble keeping officers. Many will come, get on-the-job experience, and then leave for higher paying gigs.

And also like other departments, Sabattus is having trouble luring quality candidates with the job market for police so wide open right now.

“The little towns can’t compete with the places that are offering a $20,000 sign-on bonus,” Kane said. “So we’re trying to be creative and to think of other ways of bringing people in and getting them to stay here. I’ve worked with the board on this and they fully agree.”

Kane is not exaggerating. Police departments in many cities and towns are scrambling to stay afloat. Some are taking extreme measures to keep their departments intact. Employment offers that would have seemed like insanity a few years ago are now commonplace.

And it’s not just in the big cities, either.

In November, the Gardiner Police Department announced that it would offer a $15,000 signing bonus to fill vacancies on its force.

In October, the Town Council in Mechanic Falls unanimously adopted a resolution to keep and maintain its police department, which at one point was down to one officer.

In August, the Mexico Police Department began offering a $10,000 signing bonus, a retirement package and cruiser privileges as incentives to fill two vacancies on its five-person force.

In Brewer, the town is offering a $20,000 signing bonus. In Pittsfield it’s $15,000.

The incentives have grown so fat and tempting, some police officers have chosen to leave bigger departments to take jobs in small towns where they might make more money for less work.

Sabattus, at this point, can’t offer signing bonuses that large, although they are considering other options.

Among other ideas, Kane said, town officials have considered offering retirement at 20 years instead of 25, improving insurance for the family of department employees or increasing vacation time.

Kane is confident that once the dust settles and the new year arrives, they will be able to get the department back on track, just as the people voted to do in September.

“It’s a great town. The people are wonderful,” Kane said. “And the board we work with, it’s the same thing. What do you need? What do you need for support for our PD? And I know there’s a lot of squabbling going on about different things and there’s the rumor mill. I stay right away from that. I’m not looking back at what happened in the past.

“My job is to move us forward, stay positive and stay out of the drama,” Kane said. “I just want to protect our staff, our town and our people and take care of them. That’s the plan.”