WILTON — A nonbinding show of hands by residents Wednesday indicated strong support for creating a quasi‑municipal police department to serve Wilton and Jay.

Thirty‑six people attended the meeting at Academy Hill School, called by the Wilton Board of Selectpersons to present the public with four options for policing in the towns.

A 12-member committee has been working since last summer on ways the towns could collaborate to improve policing.

In the straw poll, 17 residents voted to set up a two‑town department, four voted for one town to contract with the other for police coverage, and one voted to contract with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Town officials from Wilton and Jay, along with members of the committee that researched the options, did not vote.

The Wilton Board of Selectpersons said several times over the winter that it wanted residents to weigh in on their preferences before any option goes to voters June 9.

Wednesday’s meeting served as that opportunity, and several residents took it. Most of their questions centered on the fourth option — creating a quasi‑municipal organization.

Doug Hiltz zeroed in on financing.

“How would you ensure that taxpayers have a say in the budget (of a quasi‑municipal department)?” he said. “Would the budget go to voters?”

Chief Ethan Kyes of the Wilton Police Department replied that a public referendum each year in each town could be written into the bylaws of the two‑town board that would govern the department.

Kyes and Chief Joseph Sage of the Jay Police Department presented the four options Wednesday night.

Lee Ann Dalessandro, a selectwoman in Jay and chair of the Wilton-Jay Police Collaboration Committee, added that the committee “hadn’t tried to structure (the quasi‑municipal operation) until we see what the people want.”

She cited experience in Pennsylvania, where 141 rural police departments have consolidated into 43.

“In 95 percent of the cases,” she said, “people said, ‘Hey, we’re saving money here.’”
Kyes added that in Pennsylvania, “they found that by the third year, the budgets started going down.”

Local officials said the committee looking into police collaboration consulted extensively with police leaders in Pennsylvania to learn how they handled officer shortages and the logistics of policing rural areas.

Wilton Selectwoman Nancy Allen noted that the two‑town police merger could resemble regional school units and Maine school administrative districts, which also cross municipal lines.

Other questions from the audience focused on the level of police services under any form of collaboration.

Nancy Merrill asked about current and proposed staffing.

Kyes said Wilton always has an officer on duty and has a supervisor on duty for five shifts a week. But the department is so short-staffed that the lieutenant, sergeant and chief all take patrol shifts.

“In December of 2024, I took 22 shifts,” Kyes said.

He added that his department was shorthanded for nearly all of 2025.

Sage said Jay always has an officer on duty, plus a sergeant‑detective who can take patrol shifts and a school resource officer who is available for patrol when school is not in session.

The suggested plan for a quasi‑municipal department calls for nine patrol officers — five in Jay and four in Wilton — with an officer on patrol at all times in each town.

The plan also includes a patrol corporal who could assist officers in either town with difficult calls, such as domestic disturbances.

Each town would have a sergeant as well.

Sage said response times in the merged departments in Pennsylvania have improved.
Answering a question from Allen, Sage said the goal of a merged department here would also be to improve response time.

Sage said that if the department can retain people, responders would be more experienced and able to get to and process cases faster.

The lack of applicants for police jobs and the loss of officers recruited by other departments were key reasons for creating the Wilton‑Jay Police Collaboration Committee.

Kyes, Sage and Dalessandro stressed that the committee’s suggested structure is not binding. If the towns move forward with a police merger and create a governing board, that board would structure the department and present the proposed structure to each town’s selectpersons for approval.

Kyes said the governing board would probably prepare an annual budget for approval by each town.

Kyes and Sage said the officers in their departments prefer the two‑town “quasi” setup.

If Wilton follows the direction indicated by the straw vote, the towns would be on separate paths.

The Jay Select Board voted Feb. 23 to ask Wilton to contract with Jay — essentially hiring Jay for policing — as a first step toward establishing a quasi‑municipal organization.

David Leavitt, chair of the Wilton Board of Selectpersons, said the board “hopes to have this question on the (state primary and referendum) ballot June 9.”

He summed up the next steps, saying, “If both towns say we want a quasi‑(municipal department), then that’s a whole new ballgame, and we start with a new committee to build a structure.”

The next meeting of the Wilton Board of Selectpersons is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, but the agenda has yet to be posted.

The Jay Select Board is set to meet Monday, April 13.

Wilton and Jay might not be the first towns to set up a merged department.

In Winthrop and Monmouth, a commission is expected to begin work July 1 to create a two‑town department. Kyes said Millinocket and East Millinocket are also considering some form of merger.

 This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: themainemonitor.org.