for the select board meeting on January 6th, 2026. That seems kind of impossible. I'm trying. Um so to review the agenda, we have first public comment at 50:05 and then our general business before
um is review and approve the minutes from December 17th and December 18th. Review and approve special event permit for the new library grand opening on the 10th on Saturday. uh review and sign the
new library MIAA insurance document, conduct uh two interviews for the police chief um finalist Ben Peters and Devon Pelleteer and then we'll go into executive session
um for us to um deliberate about the candidates and we will return to public session and um at that point. Okay. So,
>> is there anyone on screen or in the room that has public comment? >> Is there anyone? Amanda, >> Amanda, >> you can unmute. Amanda, we're ready for you. >> Hi, everybody. >> Hi, Amanda.
>> Amanda Alex, 16 Lake View Road. Um, I'd like some clarification on the reasons for tonight's executive session. Um, I believe reason 8 is reserved for screening committees, which you guys are
not. Um, at this point, even a screening committee, I don't think could use reason 8 because two finalists have been chosen. um whi by which time concerns about not attracting qualified
candidates would are moot. Um secondly, I wonder >> why you want to interview the two finalists for police chief in close session. Um you're the hiring authority determining the qualifications of the two candidates. Seems like the meeting
should be held in open session where the public can observe the process. um for the same reasons. Sorry. Um I als I also wonder why you held held a closed session at 4 to review interview questions that's related. Okay. Can you
explain your reasoning? Thank you. >> So yes, Amanda, um we may have the reason number or executive session number incorrectly on here, but in our hiring process with the TA also, what we did was we interviewed the candidates in public session so the public could
review. We did our deliberation and talking about the candidates in executive session and that is because we will be discussing them and we have to go into negotiation contract negotiation if we pick a candidate tonight to a
point and that can interfere with the negotiation process at that point. >> Okay. And then I thank you. >> I would just add to that we we are interviewing them in public session. Yes. and we don't want to disclose what the interview questions would be. So that's a reason that's also a reason for
um doing an executive session. >> Okay. >> For the question piece. >> All right. Thanks. Thanks for answering. >> You're welcome. >> Uh was there anyone else that had public comment either in the room or um in on screen? Okay. Thank you. Um so moving on
to review the minutes from December 17th and the 18th. So, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes from December 17th? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Was there any um
clarifications in them or >> I I'm all set. >> No, I think they're fine. Thanks. >> Okay. So, all in favor of approving December 17th, narrow I >> Stalker I >> make peace O'Neal I. And do I hear a motion to approve December that was
17th? I'm sorry, December 18th minutes. >> So moved. >> Second. >> A second. The only thing um my comment would be that it's one of just a GZA should be doesn't it? GZA stands for >> Yeah. Would you write it out the first
time it appear? Yep. >> Right. >> Okay. >> I don't even know what it It's GZA Geo Environmental Incorporated. >> Oh, okay. >> I can see why they use GZA. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. >> I don't know that I've ever heard the
full name. >> Yeah. >> So, all those in favor of approving December 18th as needed. >> Frell I. >> Stark. >> Make me O'Neal. I uh moving on to reviewing and approving the special permit for new library grant opening on
January 10th. >> Yes. if you have questions. A long time coming. You get it? There you go. Thank you. >> My only question is whether or not um I
guess relates to this policeing. Are we going to police I think a parking could be a bit of a disaster. >> Yes, a police officer will be on site for the morning activities. Police department will assist pedestrians in crossing Le and the highway department. >> Perfect. Perfect.
So now the safety plan has the events listed here. So, um, all in favor of approving a special event permit application for the new library opening on January 10th, >> Maril I, >> Stark I,
>> Pil. And just as a quick reminder, we have our four town meeting is now at 8:00 that morning, >> right? Um, so I assume we will be back
in time for the 10:00. I >> think they said I have to close. >> Yeah. Well, >> and we'd have to leave there till 11 uh 9:30. >> Yeah. >> 9:30. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah.
>> We'll do it. It'll work. Um, review. We are review and sign the new library MIA insurance. MIA insurance document. >> So, actually, we don't need to do this. Um, I thought that Robert Jane, our rep from Maya, would need our signature, but
they've already added the library to our policy, so it's paperless, so we don't have to do anything about it, right? >> Do we need to vote or anything on it? >> Um, I don't believe so. >> We've already been embarking on this. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um, but I do have an unanticipated item
>> that shouldn't take very long. >> Okay. Um, >> sure. >> You're ready. Um, so we were recently awarded a um an ADA improvement grant and in working with the FUKOG, we're going to do an ADA evaluation of all town buildings. And so what I need the
chair to sign, please, is just the MOU. >> Good for Furcohog. And the the amount that they're quoting us is the amount that we were awarded the grant for. >> Okay. Do I hear a motion to execute this?
>> Small. second. >> Okay. And the amount is 9 sorry $9,975. >> And do they um the Furcog staff does the evaluation? >> We're working on the elementary school
first since that's the most tricky to plan around. Um but then we'll be doing all the buildings and then once we have the improvement plan, then we can apply for like action grants. Okay. For um >> different things. All those in favor? >> Daryl, I
>> make peace. O'Neal I >> can I just ask one more follow-up question to that? Yeah. Was >> Was there ever any other evaluation that was done? I remember that there was some had been some discussion about the access back here.
>> No, >> not to my recollection. >> I know that there were issues here. >> Yeah, there are definitely some points of concern in this building. I'll be curious to hear what what they have to say. And um will the um buildings committee be looped in on
this when they're doing their evaluation? I I just think it would be good >> if they're in if the buildings committee is involved earlier rather than later so that they have an opportunity to kind of >> be a part of it >> to be a part of it
>> and rather than just when getting a report. >> We're still setting dates, but yes, let me um let me email Frank. >> Yeah. and just let him know. >> I'm going to pause here for a second. Can the person on the screen who has their name records please identify
themselves? We'll ask a second time. If you don't identify yourself, we're going to remove you from the meeting. And the person on the screen with the name records, please identify themselves. Can you remove records, please? >> I can. And then do we want last names
>> and last names? If anyone has a first name, could you please put a last name for records requests or records, please? Do you want to point out who they are? >> Sharon and Sean, can you add your last name to your online
name, please? >> I think you just go to settings, right? Yeah, you just go to settings and you can add an add your full name. You able to ask them through that? >> Um, I don't think there's a specific button that will at um
>> Sharon, can you identify your last name for us? Can somebody say, "Do you hear us?" Can you hear us? >> Yes, I can hear you fine. >> Okay, thank you, Kelly. >> Sean, can you identify your last name,
please? Aaron, can you identify your last name? >> Is it possible they can't speak to you because they're muted? >> I can we can unmute them. >> I certainly >> Thank you, Leslie. I appreciate that.
>> I don't know that's the problem. >> No. Sharon, are you able to hear us? >> That weird buzz. I don't know. I did send a message though. Ask her to unmute. >> That guy Sean went away, right?
>> You did. >> Yeah, we obviously just want this for the minutes. Yeah, we want it for the minutes so we can >> There we There she goes, Sharon. >> Thank you very much, Sharon. We appreciate that. make it easier for Brennan.
>> Yeah, it easier for Bren. It will maybe we should start announcing that at the beginning of our meetings want to say get for records. That would be very helpful. >> And you guys have all signed in. >> Well, we have you
video, >> right? >> Um, right. Because they can see the video. Um so now we're at the point of the interviews. Was there anything else the TA update that um >> yeah TA had for us that um it's been a lot
crazy last couple weeks. >> Um I don't know if I had a chance to say this. I can give an update on the dam repairs. So um we are approved to reuse this dam and seaw wall grant to fund the scope of work the designing and the
engineering from GZA. Um, we still have to identify a funding source for the actual repair work, but I was able to declare a state of emergency which will allow us to deficit spend until we can pursue some other grant opportunities. Um,
so yeah, I don't have a firm date for construction yet, but all the paperwork is ready to go and has been submitted to the states. I think that was the major one. Where do we stand if any with the ZV Z
who is um >> oh um I need to connect with Donna this week to kind of go over the finer finer details of what we had talked about right >> um and then I'll follow up with them and include you first thing >> great >> I didn't want to do it over the hall >> no that's
this is about access just in case contract send equipment down there we better have a way to get the equipment just saying >> and we have we have sort of a longer term issue. I mean it's not just an immediate solution with the abutters.
It's it's making sure that we have >> an agreement with them for future >> right >> needs too for getting access >> because I should also reiterate that even though we're going to do this repair work it only gets us out of the emergency ordinance. doesn't make all
the repairs that we're going to need to make and we anticipate those to be coming from the state as well. There'll be more directives. >> Yeah, that's that's going to be a financial >> difficult difficulty. That's a good way
to put it. Yeah. >> But um yeah, I think that was it for major stuff. Um really happy about the ADA grants. >> Yeah. No, that's great. There's Yeah, there's some things we could do with that. >> Do you want me to give a another quick
update on the >> Yes. spear use? Um, we haven't met. We're meeting again this this coming Thursday. So, there's a um a committee that was put together by the select board to look at the reuse of the um
what we're calling now the MN sphere building and um fi five members on the committee. I'm I'm chairing that committee. Um we've met a number of times to um uh to just explore
um kind of the you know basic information that we have about the building and then kind of did an internal internal to the um to the town of Shootsberry a survey of um employees and and towns and
committees about their space needs and got um you know a good a good response back. There was definitely interest on the part of um some departments about the um the use of that building. And um
so where we are right now is I think what we would what we determined at our last meeting was that um regardless of how the building gets gets used, well maybe not regardless, but the the
primary things that that we anticipate that the build how the building would be used either for offices or for the location of a department. um that we would need to have um
bathroom facilities and running running water in that building. And that was one of the major impediments to when when the library when the different committees looking at that expanding the possibility of expanding the library. Um
it was one of the major impediments to to doing it. um that the the library and the church both sit on the town common and the town common has its limitations um you know having to go back to um the
legislature. You just can't do anything you want with with a town common. Um so we're doing some investigation. We're actually meeting with the um Cat Hilton from the board of health this coming Thursday. Anybody's welcome to um come
to the meeting um to talk about what are the implications of trying to um put a bathroom into that building and um and I was doing some research today talking to
um I don't know what they sanitation engineer I guess is the way um and somebody who's familiar with with the zoning issues news. And what I found out, and I'll be reporting back to the committee this week, is it's it's fairly
complex to um to do something like uh even though there's not really a change in use, per se, because we have >> it's considered like the public building
and and how it's used now. Um but uh to try to put even put a a a tight tank there if we weren't going to do a um a septic system, a full you know leech field and so forth um would be pretty
complex and expensive. Um, and the alternative is, um, and I think this was explored in the past, um, whether or not you could hook up to the to the town hall under the road with
water and and septic. And when I broached that with the um with the the engineer in my discussions, he said that's a really expensive alternative um because it involves pumps
and it also involves um an evaluation of our current system to see whether or not >> the well in the center of the >> the the well. Um what he said is that you know we could explore that. But one of the things that you have to be really
um you know if there's some sort of septic system you have to be a distance from a well. >> Yeah. >> So there are all these like different things. So, I I think what I'm going to do um what I'm going to recommend to the committee and I'm just kind of letting
you know is um that I think it would be worth our investing a small amount of money into going through all these alternatives with an with an expert. And um this is a a
fellow who's done already done work in the um um in Shootsberry is very familiar. Uh and so it could be him. I we could explore kind of what other folks charge too. But um we have that discussion with the board of health this
week. That will be kind of the first step. And then um you know what I'm hoping is that I don't know when is our next when's our next meeting after this. >> We had to like Yeah. Um
>> regular select board. >> Select board. Yeah. >> 20th. >> No. >> No. Oh yeah. Sorry. I'm thinking head of February. I had to plan something. >> Yeah. It's the 20th by what? You sent us >> January. January 20th. um is that maybe
at the January 20th meeting, we come before the um um before the select board to give a you know give an update, give a report um if if there's time. So um just kind of put that down. I don't know
if there was anything else that we anticipated having to do on the 20th too. >> There's a full hearing. There's a couple other items of business. So, I think that would just about round us out. Okay. And then I was thinking February 3rd is our next meeting after that.
>> Okay. Okay. >> And I will not be here then. >> Okay. >> Um and tomorrow night we are having a joint meeting with the finance committee. >> Yep. >> All right. >> And um before we pivot, there are some
new folks who joined us. Um an iPhone and two people, Stephen Carrie. So, if you can either update your screen to have your full name um or just let us know so we can put it in the minutes. I worked for one
Stephen Carrie Yeah, I think so. The iPhone is gone. So, Steve and Carrie um if you could just unmute or update your header um so that it has your last name. We need it for the minutes away
has >> Did you want to take a public >> Yeah, we can take a Okay, take a comment. >> Um >> Hey. Yeah, I just wanted to mention that per open meeting law, it's not required for people to give their last names for minutes.
Although it does make it easier, >> but we can still ask. >> Yeah. >> Right. So, you got to fill seven minutes. Seven minutes. Does anyone know what >> you got? CL you got
>> just you're talking about >> Oh, I wanted to know John. So Frank arranged on January 13th, whatever that is, I guess to have massive come to the school, which is great. >> Oh, great. >> He's going to get that done.
>> So that's Jan. This is a busy January. So January 13th is mass save. >> Yeah. school committee knows. >> Okay. >> At least the relevant people. >> Okay. >> I don't know what time does. >> Okay.
>> When we go into executive session, we'll use I'm looking like we'll use whichever reason number three is for negotiations. I think that's fs. There wasn't a long enough story by the way.
>> Except there wasn't a long enough story. >> Oh, sorry. I will say there has been at least travel very long. >> Okay. So, actually number eight does Frank makes Oh, actually Frank is gonna get um people.
>> Oh, GZA. >> Okay. Oh, nice. That's good. They've been really nice to our work done. >> What else? >> Yeah. And we don't have a date for another direct meeting. Correct. >> Not yet. No. I think we sent out a poll. >> You did? >> I believe so.
>> It's under responded to, I think. >> I think so. They usually are. It can be recent. >> Um, do you want to make an announcement about the um the stormwater city? I mean, you sent out the town announce.
>> Yeah, we did a town announce for the storm water I forget the acronym now that I made it. Um, >> yeah. >> Um, we are still uh looking for members of the public. We've had two people apply. one was recommended by ECAC and
so there are some other groups select board included um that will need to nominate someone to join the board and I did email all those committees again and ask that they send us things by um by the end of the month. >> Okay.
>> So, and how many how many members of the public? >> Um we have at least one. I think, you know, kind of depends on if other people are able to give us, you know, because you obviously you want an odd number is what I'm saying. So, it depends, >> right? Okay.
All right. What do we have? Four minutes. >> So, so quickly looking what Ale and Alex has said. So, quickly looking at reason number eight. Um, part of that is to consider or interview applicants. And since we're
considering an applicant, I think eight still applies. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And um >> just wanted to um where is it in the open meeting law about the names? I'm just curious. >> You said actually a case of it not being addressed and um so because of the fact
that it's not addressed, uh people can attend public meetings anonymously. There's no requirement to um be not anonymous to attend a public meeting. In other words, >> okay. And so you're saying because it's
>> because it's not it's it's not in the open meeting law. >> Correct. Right. >> Do you have do you have a ruling on that from someone? I'm just curious. >> I can find a lot of um citations about >> Okay. >> not requiring um people to identify themselves at
>> public open sessions. >> Yeah. Because one of the issues that we had >> was we had a lot of um >> Zoom bombing. >> Zoom bombing. >> Oh, tell me about it. And Wendel as well. And it's very frustrating. >> Yeah. So when you didn't have when you didn't have a name
um we had people coming in and then we didn't have any idea who they were and they were zoom bombing. So it was So that's why I'm curious about where it um what the citation what if there is a
citation or a case that you could share with us. I'd really appreciate it. >> And I think it comes down to um people don't have to identify themselves. >> Uh but you can remove a person for doing Zoom bombing or something like that. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I I'll look into I'll see what I
can find, but it's pretty clear. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are the candidates coming in person? >> Can I say one more thing? >> They're coming. >> I forgot to add one thing if it's okay. >> Yes, Melissa. She >> Oh, pardon me, Melissa. You're the Yes, excuse me. Go ahead. But it's relevant
to that question that Rita just posed. Um it is allowed to set up registration mechanisms. Um some places will require you to register for a meeting and then you get a link and those are good um you know measures to take to prevent things like Zoom bombing.
>> So you can have more of a gatekeeping procedure. >> Yeah. Okay. Thanks. >> How many minutes do we have? It doesn't have the time on there. >> We have one minute. >> All right. So, I'll move I'll move my
self as I >> get into position. >> Yeah. Slide these wires open. >> Do you want us to um You want us to move down here? >> No, no, you can stay there. We'll put the >> I'm just waiting here.
>> But then will your back be to the screen of >> Is is anybody else cold? All the doors are open. >> Huh? him. >> Why? >> She's turning. >> He noticed that I wear heavy clothes.
You know, >> I have mittens on the dash in my car in case on the two chances I might need them. >> Signed in. >> Yeah. >> Yep. here. >> Thank you, Rita, for you to see.
>> We've met before. >> Nice to meet you again. >> Eric Stalker. Pleasure. >> And Rita Frell of Thanks. >> Excuse my my voice. I'm at the tail end of uh unforgiving holidays and I brought water.
Wow. >> So, you'll have to excuse mine as well. So, we are um we will ask you some questions. Um dad, did you want to introduce and do that or do you want me to to wing it? I don't know if you had something planned.
>> Um so, uh we have some public here and we have um some on the screen as well. We um we will ask the questions. There won't be questions from the public during during this session. Okay. Um it'll be the select board. So um I
select board chair Eric can read our select board members. Um so if you'd like we can jump right in. >> Yeah. >> Feel comfortable with that. >> Thank you so much also for being accommodating for the uh the change. Really appreciate it. >> No problem.
>> So I'll start with the first question. >> I might take some notes too. Thank you so much. Um, please tell us about yourself, your interest in the position, and why you feel uniquely qualified for the role as police chief in Shootsbury. >> So, I'm Ben Peters. Um, born raised
Ammerst. Um, got into I'll kind of skip forward into the law enforcement part. Um, got into this career uh, right in the beginning of 2013. Actually, this is the first place that I ever carried a badge was the town of Shootsberry. Um,
the town of Shbury uh sent me to the part-time uh reserve academy at the time. Um, I worked here under uh Chief Harden. Um, I then went to the town of New Salem and did work there. Um, and from there I went to the town of
Sunderland where I have had a truly amazing blessed uh career uh to this point. Um, I started um along with members of the department just a number of really amazing initiatives that I'm really proud to um be a part of. So many
that I, as I explained to you guys last time, I wrote them down because I don't want to forget any because they're all equally important to me. Um, yeah. Do you want me to kind of go through some of those things or >> maybe just the highlights cuz we have a
lot of questions? Okay. >> I I think what we want to make sure is that >> I just respect everybody. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That that people get a good sense. We've been through obviously been through your resume. Um but I think for the for the public hasn't met you before just Yeah. What's some of the
highlights? >> Some of my most notable things. Um again, apologies for my voice. Um doing um crisis hostage negotiations through the uh Franklin County SRT team. Um, that has been probably one of my uh most
passionate endeavors. Um, it's funny. I tell people I'm on a on a tactical SWAT team and they, you know, look at me strange, but uh it's all about negotiating and communication and that's something that's really really important to me. Um, I do uh sexual assault
investigations for the town of Sunderland. Um, we previously didn't have anybody that was doing sexual assault investigations, so I picked that up. Um, additionally, IAC, which is internet crimes against children, that was sort of a add-on to the sexual assault uh, investigations. Again,
something that we hadn't had in our department. Um, from there, I'm a member of the Western Mass CISM team, which is critical incident stress management. Again, something that I feel very passionate about. It's basically a regional uh stateun uh peer support uh
system for law enforcement people who have been through critical incidents. Um we're deployed all over western Massachusetts for um you know fatal accidents um officer involved endeavors. Um you know just from the the standpoint
of peer support counseling I feel very strongly about that. Um, uh, from there, um, uh, I am the vice president of the, um, Franklin County Regional Cadet Program. Um, kind of equally, uh, as passionate about,
honestly, it's hard to rank these, to be honest. Um, uh, I'm the vice president of the Franklin County Police Cadet Program. Um, there was, um, a want to start a youth cadet program in Franklin County.
um a good colleague and friend of mine um is the director and president of that. We registered as a nonprofit and I've had the amazing opportunity to sit on that board and do way more work than I ever thought that I would possibly do. Uh which has given me just the most
incredible management experience that I never thought I would get. um just in terms of running day-to-day operations, running finance um endeavors and just managing both staff, managing cadets, managing background um components,
managing events, insurance waiverss, just basically almost like the things that would be part of a department, right? Policy writing, that kind of stuff. Um been massively helpful. Um, from there also
um I recently started a uh student internship program for the town of Sunderland PD. Um, we've never had an internship program. Um, it's been overwhelmingly successful. Um, a really great opportunity. One of the cadets
that's in our um, cadet program who's an exemplary student athlete has just been a a really massive success for our agency. Um, what else do I have? So, uh, additionally, um,
we run this thing called a, uh, fall public safety festival, which is something that myself and trooper Deshawn Brown, um, who is a trooper, uh, with the Massachusetts State Police, he does community impact, etc. Um,
in 2021, um, he hit my agency up with the idea of doing Coffee with a Cop. And the idea was to just host an event that the community can come to, Coffee with a Cop. And that ballooned into
um probably the biggest public safety outreach that's I would say ever been done in Massachusetts history. It's possible that it's one of the biggest things nationally. Um the last one that we did um was we did 2021, 2023 and 25.
Um we had almost 100 participants from different law enforcement, um EMS, tow truck companies, um electrical service companies, mental health services, um civilian agencies, basically anything that could possibly
do with keeping the public safe. Um the vision was education and bringing that available to the public, right? We wanted a platform to be able to have those two entities coexist and it's been very very successful. We actually just
moved to Greenfield for it um due to the size of it. Um it's something that I've been on the news for. Um very very um happy about that. Um I also do uh field training. I'm a certified field training officer for my agency. Um I've consulted
for a couple other agencies to include um shoot fairy lever a little bit. Um another thing so sorry I'm going to >> go ahead. Thank you so much for bearing with me. >> Um
I do work for the town too. I'm currently the uh chair of the uh insurance advisory committee. Um >> this is in Sunderland. >> In Sunderland. Yes. Um that's been a very interesting opportunity to work with the town sort of navigating the um
very high health insurance increases that we're all facing right now. >> Um that's definitely been a very educational and insightful endeavor just navigating those those matters. Um, in addition to that, I'm on the zoning board of appeals as an associate member
for the town and I have experience working for the Ammer Survival Center on the board of directors for that. Uh, at one point as the chair of the governance committee, which was again just an absolutely humbling opportunity to be able to work
with people who are just incredibly intelligent and smart and insightful. um in doing that from the capacity of a police officer was very controversial and something that I learned so much about um just a great number of things. So that was an incredible opportunity
for me to do that. Um yeah and and I think too a lot of these things that have been done are not they there there wasn't definitive paths for them right these are all just initiatives that I just started again
thankfully to my boss right uh the chief of Sunderland has been um amazing for kind of letting me run with things and supporting me through um all of these endeavors but these are all most of them are brand new um were ever part of our
agency. Um, kind of built from the ground up and I'm really proud of that. And, uh, again, uh, Jes where I started and I I would love nothing more than to finish it here and bring all of these things to you guys. And yeah,
sorry that was longwinded. >> You're on. >> Okay, second question. I'm asking that one. Try to be less not so casual here. As chief, you'd be responsible organizing department, establishing establishing daily and long-term priorities, and designating an officer
in charge in your absence. How would you approach organizing the Shootpay Police Department for efficiency and what criteria would you use to set priorities? >> Um, I think just just touching on my leadership style, it's situational,
right? I think that um each situation requires sort of an a unique approach. I think I would need to take time to sort of learn the ins and the outs of the current state of the department um and go accordingly from there. Um what was the last part of the question if you don't mind me asking?
>> Um I guess the last well that's >> you can just from the middle that's fine. I want to make sure >> the second part second sentence was how would you approach organizing Shay police department for efficiency and what criteria would you use? Is that the one you >> Yeah, I again I would need to sort of
get underneath the hood so to speak and just um evaluate the current state of things and um you know sit down with each officer, sit down with members of the public um you know create priorities etc. um to come up with a an honest
answer for that. Okay. >> Okay. Um, how do you expect to use to leverage the use of social media as a tool to interact with the public? >> A good question. >> And as a resource, uh, your job
functions. So, that's kind of the two two parts. Um and the for the second part uh an example might be somebody's been harassed, a teen has been harassed on social media. So it's how would you
use social media in your position and then how do you um in the in the course of policing, how do you deal with a social media problem that's been brought to you? Can you give me an example of
like how that would be kind of the latter part? Okay. Um I'm >> going to do that first. >> There are Okay. Then there are instances where um uh pictures have been put up on
the the internet that were something that was that was private that um caused great disruption for and we had it happen to to one of our employees. Um,
so, uh, it was an it was an instance where it was something that they assumed was private, um, but, uh, then was was made public and it was incredibly sensitive,
um, information. So, is there a role, you know, I'm absolutely part of my question? >> Absolutely. Yeah. Um to answer the second part of the question, um uh communication, sitdown conversations, um potentially education if that's
something that's warranted in the circumstance. Um again, this leads back to the whole negotiating uh moderating thing. That's what I'm best at. um just sitting down and having conversations and just trying to uh have people from
two different um ideologies sort of understand the broader implications of potentially something that's damaging, right? Or something that's uh objectively concerning, right? Um carefully is, you know, the overarching
thing definitely with tact. Um but sitting down and having conversations for sure. um to answer the first part of that um carefully um I think social media is very divisive. I think it's um also extremely
important. Um I we use social media for the cadet program. We use it for uh the Sunderland Police Department, both of which I have direct access to. Um I'm not uh you know an avid poster myself, but I there's
tremendous um powerful benefits to utilizing social media correctly. Um but it's again it's using it with tact, right? You have to be very responsible. You have to be very um careful of of making things neutral,
right? And not coming across biased, etc. Um, which sort of leads into that second question of just talking, communicating, >> and and how about in the course of um investigations? >> Um, that's a tricky one. Uh, it's
definitely utilized um for investigations. Um, again, it's it's case specific. Um, it's not that it's it's mandatory. There are some circumstances where um we do want
to find out as much information before we make decisions. We want to understand a person. Um there have been instances of where where it's utilized, but nothing that's been overly concerning or invasive. Just basic, you know, research, etc. I hope that answers.
>> Okay. Yeah, it does. Thank you. Um, what is your understanding of the role of a strong police chief in this community and what do you as the role of the select board and town administrator in that?
My understanding of a strong police chief is that the chief is able to make decisions independently. Um not necessarily um direct requests to uh the select board uh but very much like I
work with um you know the town administrator in my town. I have a very good relationship with her. Um, it would be a very open relationship if you will, just communicating, talking about things, um, sitting down, making sure
that everyone is on the same page. Yeah. No, no concerns at all regarding that. >> And what role do you see the select board in that? >> Being part of the conversation for sure. Never not part of the conversation. Obviously, there are some, you know, quick decisions that need to happen in terms of, you know, operational
fluidness. Um but you know any major decisions uh etc would be open conversations with the select board. >> And what about the town administrator? >> Likewise. Same. >> The chief acts as the deputy emergency
management coordinator. Could you elaborate on your experience in emergency management and how you would collaborate with the emergency management director? actually is I don't always the fire chief is the fire chief now >> here in Shootsburg. >> So part of our our full-time police um
curriculum is ICS training. Um that's a a standard when you do a full-time police academy. Um and then again just leveraging connections in terms of uh partnerships with state agencies uh federal agencies. Um it sounds like the virus sheet is the
one who was running. Again, no no problems at all with that. And that's something that you know through um the cadet program and all of these things both with federal partners, state partners, uh the contact list is is very
large and we've had really good success just having a massive pool of uh colleagues and and you know administrative people from other towns etc. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, all right. It's January, but
I'm going to tell you it's February and you're 70% um of the way through your fiscal year budget. A major snowstorm has caused an essential patrol vehicle to slide, resulting in an accident. Um, insurance will cover the
bare market value, but is insufficient to purchase a new cruiser equipped with the necessary radio and incar systems. How do you manage this unanticipated expense and what steps would you take to address it?
>> Carefully and taxfully. Um yeah, just being creative with resources, right? Um I don't I don't know that I can perfectly answer that question without seeing numbers in front of my face, but just carefully being um resourceful um
open-minded um willing to um you know move things around, right? It depends on where things are at with the budget. Can things be moved around? Um do some initiatives that we have need to be sort of tabled, right? Um I think that would
be again taken on a case by case basis. >> Okay. Uh the petition sorry I too also have something going on. Um the peti the position requires the ability to work in stressful and personally dangerous conditions. What is your approach to dealing with members of the public who
may be upset and agitated? How do you manage So that's one part and then another part separate from that is how do you manage stress and ensure the well-being of yourself and your officers in demanding situations. >> Um to answer the second part first um
just being realistic with myself, setting healthy boundaries, which is something that I'm trying very hard to accomplish. um creating just a very uh open working environment where people feel that they can ask questions um be approachable
um the opposite of you know toxic work environments etc. Um and then to answer the first part of the question, um all of the skills from negotiating, right? Just being able to um remain calm, right? Build rapport with people, listen. I think listening is really
important. We don't do enough of that. Um but listening and uh building a rapport relationship and uh working through problems collaboratively. And I truly mean that. Like that's something that's very important to this to me in this profession.
And and if the person that you encountered um didn't uh didn't respond to your remaining calm and listening, what would be so so somebody's very agitated, very
angry, is not hearing probably well in that state of mind. How do you how do you approach that with that person? Or hey, do you have an example of of a time when you encountered somebody who
um was not was was not listening, was very angry that there wasn't the threat of physical violence, but through words. So we I actually had a very interesting experience in Sunderland where we had um
two community members um and I'm not going to go too much into the politics of it but related to the Palestine Israel conflict um and it was regarding onsign that was run over and there were some very strong feelings and uh much to
we we went for it and uh we I I brought both of those people into the station and um openly moderated, which was admittedly a little bit terrifying at first. Um, but I I again I really think sitting down and having conversations is amazing and that was something that we
don't typically do. Um, but it was massively beneficial and to have those two people be able to be to go into that conversation not happy at all, but at the end be able to shake hands is something that is a
massive win for me. Um, when I arrest people, right, if I'm forced to arrest people, right, some I, you know, it happens. Um, I would say notwithstanding substances, extreme mental health cases, um, again, I'm not condoning necessarily
what the person is doing, but when I drop them off, let's say they go to the the the jail, right, the House of Corrections, it's a handshake. It's nothing personal. um the same mentality would be applied to every facet of um interactions and
communications. Again, that's that's my expertise. That's my strong suit is communicating and and moderating, etc. Okay. Um a well-known Shoot resident and friend of yours calls the police chief in your case on your personal phone.
Your friend has just been pulled over by one of your officers driving 15 miles over speed limit in a residential area of town. They're visibly upset, acknowledging they were speeding, but explaining they were rushing to a family emergency and asking if you can
personally intervene with the officer. How do you guide the officer in the appropriate leverage of their discretion in this situation while maintaining fairness and adherence to department policy? >> Yeah, and that's a tough question, right? How do you
you know, it's a small community, right? People know each other. It's a very realistic scenario that can come up. Um, again, just talking, having reasonable expectations. I think that if somebody is, you know, objectively doing something that they shouldn't be doing. I think that, you know, we're not
necessarily in the business per se of, you know, haphazardly, you know, letting things slide under the rug based on our personal relationships, but also having an understanding with the staff of Shoesberry residents of what the expectations are, what our role is in
this community that simply isn't necessarily just stopping every car that we see, right? It's a community partnership. Um, and I think that there's a lot to be said for that. Um but much like all of these questions or most of them right having conversations
trying to understand what happened what the circumstances were and if there's any education or insight that can be gained um using that for future encounters etc. I guess as a followup to that, I would ask
um so that situation where um let's just say somebody's gone, you know, 15 miles an hour over the speed limit, which we routinely have through the through the center of town. Um, would there be any difference in how you would um interact
with a non-resident versus a resident of Shootsberry? >> I mean, if somebody wanted to have an open conversation with me, I would have an open conversation with them. >> Um, whether they're a Shootsberry resident or not. Um, again, I think there's definitely consideration to be
made for the residents of the town, right? We serve the residents of the town, right? We don't want to be oppressive. We don't want to be overbearing. That's not our job. Our job is community integration, um, collaboration, etc. on top of
obviously enforcement. Um, I don't want to say blanketly there would be a different approach necessarily, but obviously we we want to um cater to the residents that we serve. But that's very that's a yeah
>> those are very situational definitely. >> Um okay the chief of police and chief serves a dual role both as a working chief who responds to calls and an administrative leader responsible for policy training and departmental oversight. This dual role can create some unique
challenges. Um, can you provide a concrete example of a time when your direct engagement with a call for service or a resident interaction directly informed a departmental policy change or led to new
to a new training initiative and then I'm gonna >> Yeah, I can't say that off the top of my head that there was a specific encounter that caused a definitive policy change. Um but at I mean every week we encounter
people and you know we're never not learning right. Um yeah and there's always room for you know understanding improvement if it's something that's necessary but absolutely if there is a circumstance where you know policy adjustment
adjustment is warranted then that would be something that could be um entertained but but no not specifically um anything that has changed policy. I'm thinking as I'm talking Okay. Um, conversely, can you describe a
situation where your close community ties or de daily interactions presented a professional challenge and explain how you managed that situation to main maintain impartiality and professional boundaries?
>> Um, just being someone who does a lot of the community initiatives for the department. Um, I have basically all of the businesses, you know, I in my phone, right? There's there's lots of relationships that I build every single week. Um, really, really great
relationships. Um, I want to say that overwhelmingly it's a positive, right? You have a mutual sense of respect, a mutual sense of understanding. You're building rapport with people when you have to interact with those people. Um, my experience is
overwhelmingly positive. Um, are there circumstances where it does create problems? Absolutely, potentially. Right. Um, but just like everything else that we've been talking about, it's just a case by case basis and it's just kind of doing the best you can and and trying
to be um as honest and understanding as possible. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. Beyond general accessibility, what specific community policing programs or initiatives would you prioritize
implementing in shooting? And then there's another part to that question, but if you want. >> So firstly, the the uh student internship program, which is again through Smith Vocational uh high school. Um that would be something that would immediately come to this community with
me. Um participation in the cadet program would be something that uh again would um fall under this town, this community. Um the public safety festivals, those initiatives that we do would immediately also have, you know, the flag of Shootsberry, so to speak, um
behind it. Um in addition to, you know, some of the other initiatives like th those stay with me regionally, right? um the experience training for you know the sexual assault investigations um the crisis negotiation team I would I
would maintain that but in terms of community initiatives I would say immediately the internship program um the uh cadet everything related to the cadetses and then um uh the safety festival
>> and then how would you measure the effectiveness of these programs in terms of building trust in improving the community police relations and how would you adapt them based on feedback the community might give you >> lots of conversations
um just talking to everybody um that's actually something I would be very excited to do is to just talk to the members of the community um and just learn and get feedback right not unsimilar to you know talking to members of the department right just getting feedback what what's been working what's
not been working, what are things the community is looking for, how can we grow together, etc. Um, what do we see for the vision? How do we create a plan? Um, that kind of stuff. Lots and lots and lots of very um open conversations
for sure. >> So, I have a a followup. How how does the either the cadet program or the internship program relate to community policing and shoots very specifically? So is that you know
those are those those are things that you do that's countywide. Is that correct? >> But how do they how do they relate to policing here in Shootsbury? >> It's a great question. So cadet program specifically so um part of the role of
the cadets and what the cadets do they they meet weekly on Wednesdays um from 6:00 to 8:30. they they have classes if you will right typically that's at uh GCC and a broad array of of topics are covered but um additionally they do
community events right um and uh I would say participating agencies is the correct way to say that participating agencies have sort of unfettered access to the cadets in terms of community events I also feel strongly that Um so
sorry. >> I feel strongly that um having them present for community events has been very effective for um uh another mechanism for the public feeling um comfortable interacting with law
enforcement, right? Because of they're younger, right? Um it's just a softer approach. Um and it's been very successful. So if there are community events in Shootsbury, um collectively as a town, we would have
access to cadetses to um participate in events, to run events, um to help out with their events and that would sort of carry over into the internship program. Um our intern has been massively helpful for basically all aspects of what I do.
Um he was riding with my police chief today for an example. Um, and that's again another thing that uh the flag of Shootsberry, if you will, can kind of be behind. Um, again, it's a it's a a very proactive um progressive initiative.
There's very few that are being done. Um, I don't believe there are any that are being done the way that we're approaching it specifically in the policies that we've come up for it. Um, or we developed for it. Um, but that's an example of like directly how that would impact. So, you would be seeing
that intern in town. You would you would um he would be a friendly face. Um he would be potentially riding around with officers. Um getting to meet the members of the public. Um again, just another way to interact with the public that's non-traditional um while also again
giving him a tremendous opportunity for his future endeavors. Right. Um yeah, >> just one one more question if I may. Um, is that is that something that's available to Shootsbury now that we
don't any police can any police department in Franklin County access the cadetses or the interns or is that >> absolutely so typically if an agency or a town has an event they will let
somebody from the executive board know >> and we will put out that event. We have a very nuanced application thing that we work in the back end. Um but yeah, so towns would reach out and um
we would put out a request to the cadets and see if we could get that filled. Um but much like anything, right, um priority uh generally goes to um affiliated agencies, right? So agencies that either have advisors or people on
the board of directors. Um the hierarchy of this program is we have a board of directors. Underneath that we have staff adviserss and then from there we have um general adviserss and that doesn't count instructors, right? Cuz we have
prosecutors um that instruct. We have members from the state police. We have anything that you can think of. UMass professors have done courses. Um yeah, that that's an example of that. So yes, you absolutely can um have access to
that program, but it would be a much more direct >> uh relationship. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. The role of police chief is critical for establishing tone, vision, and operational priority priorities for the department and the community. Assume
you're the is selected for this role. Can you detail what your strategic plan would be for the first 90 days as police chief? Um, and what are the three main priorities during this crucial onboarding period and what specific actions will you take to execute them? It's a long question. So,
>> Oh, no, that's fine. >> Let you answer that. Let me read the whole thing and then then you take it that way or you want to >> I can I can start answering the first part. >> All right, do that. >> Um, yeah, just having conversations. I think there would be some soaking if you will, right, of just sort of absorbing
the current state of the town, the current state of the department. um what people's um where everyone is at, right? What again asking those questions, what are we missing? What are we needing to do? Um I don't know that I can answer
specifically what would be done in the first 90 days other than many weeks of um conversations ranging from very easy ones to very very hard ones. Um, but I I'm again we'd be so fortunate and passionate to be in a
position to have those conversations. So, um, not rushing things, being patient, um, and just again being willing to listen to quite literally anybody that has any type of commentary, feedback, anything.
>> All right. Second question that's related to the >> second part of the same >> second part of the same question is describe your plan for conducting a thorough assessment of the department parenthesis personnel resources current operations that type of thing. Which key internal and external stakeholders for
example select board officers community groups and so forth will you prioritize meeting with during this time and what specific information will you seek from each? um everyone, right? I I think that members of the uh speaking to members of
the department, interviewing um existing members is just as important as um having conversations and interviews with the members of uh town government as well as residents of the community. Um I would for the department, I would do individual interviews um with existing
officers and again those questions of what's working, what's not working. Um I just a lot of uh open dialogue and and the same for members of the town government and the community. A lot of talking
>> right your voice is feeling better talking from last time. My voice is like very normal sounding. This is like what I just I'm like God. >> You should have brought the lass. So the third part of the question is based on
your understanding of Shootsbury identifies identify one specific achievable early win a lowcost high impact initiative that would um aim to accomp accomplish within the first 90 days to build immediate credibility with
the department and the community. I I think uh something that's easy that I'm thinking of again would be carrying over that internship program. Um just as something that I know that I can personally implement that will be successful. Um
and then again I think things will just present themselves right um not unsimilar to how a lot of these other endeavors have happened. Um I'm very open to anything. I don't ever get stuck on one method. If there's an approach
that works better, I will I will take all feedback and apply it. Um I'm not stuck in anything. So I think I think things would quickly present themselves. Hard exactly to tell what that would be right away. Um but I think things would
present themselves. I think just honestly having a lot of really good dialogue would be something that would be noticeable immediately. >> Okay, back to another um situation here. So imagine you've identified a recurring issue in Shitzbury, for example,
increased complaints about minor property damage and irresponsible use of boats on Lake Biola um during the summer. As a chief, as our chief, you have a limited budget and a
small team to address these seasonal enforcement demands. How would you go about creating programs or would you create programs to address the issue >> and then I'll follow up. >> Yeah. Um definitely if there were
applicable programs absolutely again similar to everything else um if there were were you know creative ways to solve problems I absolutely would entertain any and all um uh available ways to handle certain things. um setting realistic
expectations I think um again considering budgetary constraints etc. Um but you know understanding what the problems are and having the conversations right if there's specific entities that are you know requiring more attention than other entities um
making sure that those conversations are happening etc. not just a blanket, you know, enforcement, >> right? I mean, obviously enforcement is part of it, but >> um Okay, so let's say you came up with
um a uh a program or an approach to dealing with um to vandalism, how would you how do you measure the effectiveness of that? Um
I think just from a feedback from the community and then from statistics right if there's x number of vandalisms and we implement a policy or a procedure or uh a mentality to address that problem if there's a sheer you know numerical drop then that's a way that we can measure
that. Um, additionally, just sort of the the perception from the community, right? What do what do they feel? Is there a noticeable change in the day-to-day um from their perspective? Right. I think those two weights are good parameters.
>> Okay. And just lastly, can you talk about how you would gather feedback from the community um and how you might if if needed adapt a your approach, >> adapt my approach, >> adapt the the approach to the problem.
Let's say you came up with a um let's let's take the motorboats because that's a little trickier than ventilism. Um, so, you know, we had an issue um this past over the course of this past year with um and and we actually had a a
committee looking at um speeding on Lake Wyola there. There was an accident that had happened and it kind of prompted a kind of another look at gosh, you know, do we have to make some changes? what do you see as sort of the the role of the
the police department when there was that there was a reportable incident um and uh in in developing a response to to that coming up with a program >> I think again for me it would be sort of
understanding what the past practices and enforcement strategies that are already implemented for that I think I would definitely need to know and understand that prior to making um an informed comment on that. Um, but just isolating the problem and examining
different ways that it could be solved, right? Is it one person that's needing lots of reminders? Is it um a need for a policy that would fix a broader issue um that wasn't necessarily one person, but more generalized um that type of
response, if that makes sense. >> Good. Thank you. Yes. And do you have any questions for us? >> I do. I also Okay. Is it Is it okay if I
just talk about one more thing that I >> Yeah, you can add in you'd like us to >> another thing too just to kind of speak to the the open communication style. Um >> I try to this as quick as I can. So, we have a uh an educational facility uh
called Northstar uh learning center in Sunderland. Um again, this is why I wrote all these things down. I'm glad I did that. Um so, a number of years ago, we had a student from Northstar. Um I'll just call them an individual. They don't
let student um it's a it's a very self-direct it's in the name self-directed learning center. Um, we had a an individual that was a member of Northstar. Um, and it was, you know, a bridge situation. They were on the Sunderland Bridge. It ended up being, uh, section
12 circumstance. And, uh, I reached out to my boss and, uh, you know, sort of inquired if we had any type of relationship with Northstar. Um, we didn't. Um I subsequently went to Northstar and have for the past number of years been you know very slowly
developing relationships with that organization. Um I really believe in what they do. Um but it's been extremely nuanced in terms of being able to um work with some of the uh
ju just work with that organization. um they don't want uniform uh police officers at the center. >> Um they don't want to interact with uh a police officer that's armed. Um I have hosted uh a a bunch of uh open forum
sessions at the library wearing plain clothes um certain circumstances unarmed um have have had extremely um beneficial dialogues um with not only the the staff but the students as well. um
just sort of again being open to the conversations and stuff. That's been a really powerful experience. Um but yeah, um I I again I appreciate uh your time. Uh this is definitely a very
very um amazing opportunity um to sort of see what I feel some of the the things that are lacking from this profession are and to be able to be in a platform to execute on those things is something that I'm very passionate about. I think this is an amazing
profession that has some some things that that we can do to work on it. um and to be in a position to affect those those changes um not only for the town of Shootsberry but also just being part of the you know more plugged in
ecosystem and being able to have uh a meaningful impact on that would be something that would be amazing quite frankly. Um I guess I'll leave it for a question for for you all. Um, do you have any reservations or things that um
are sort of top priority concerns um when you're going through your process? Possibly anything that I could touch on or speak to. >> In that last story, can you just tell me what a section 12 situation is? >> Absolutely. So, a section 12 is um uh an
involuntary hospitalization. >> Okay. >> Right. So what that is is basically if somebody presents themselves as either a danger to themselves, a danger to other people or uh they have uh an inability objective inability to care for
themselves. Um it requires further evaluation from the hospital. Um and those are circumstances where once a threshold is sort of um met and and exceeded um somebody would have to go through that process. Um we've made
really really good strides for uh uh the cso program that we're a part of in Sunderland. Our collaborative group is uh Sunderland Wheatley and Hatfield. Um I work very closely with the co-responder um doing those types of endeavors and
that program has been very helpful in reducing sort of unnecessary police encounters and keeping people out of the system so to speak. Um, it's a it's a diversionary program, if you will. Okay, that's a good question.
>> I don't think I have any questions beyond what we asked here, but again, I'd repeat if you had questions for us. >> What are you guys looking for in an ideal candidate for shoots chief? >> Well, um, that's a great question. I
think each one of us probably has something slightly different. Um, so for for myself, um, having lived here all of my life and experienced multiple types of policing and shoot spray, I think for me and and a portion of the community is
someone that has a relationship with the community. um that people feel comfortable to approach that has uh the ability to do what they need to necessarily with the policing part but has the ability to use a lot of discretion in in um dealing with
residents the community at large even you know beyond the sheets walls of Sheets um so that's kind of you know um an ability to adapt to that and I know that's not always easy >> no >> unfortunately Yeah, I guess I would um just second
what Melissa said around, you know, I think the uh the overriding um interest on the part of of the community and of of this select board and of previous select boards is really the community policing model. Um and
that is that you know we have a a department that is um that that takes its responsibilities seriously in terms of of law enforcement but um you know brings to the brings to the community a
sense sensibility about how important it is to have a good relationship you know with with our police officers and that Um people feel that that the that there's good
leadership there, but there's also compassion and um and an and an awareness of of the unique characteristics of our our community. So, you know, you want you want both things. You want to have that feeling of
well, if I if I need a police officer, they're going to be there. Um I I feel confident that um that we have people kind of watching out for us. By the same token that it's not a um that it's done
in such a way as to be sensitive to you know who we are as a as a community and we like to fashion ourselves as very special up here. um we're not, you know, we're we're diverse, but but I think, you know, if
you were to if you were to survey um folks here, for the most part, you would get a very strong um emphasis on having a a police department that um that
people are very comfortable with uh in both both feeling that that they'll be there in the case of an emergency Um, but they're also there to um, you know, for the good parts and, um, and I
think, you know, we've we've worked hard at that, um, here. And >> is that something successful? Yeah. >> Deficit. >> Uh, um, is that still a deficit? I don't think so. I I think it's really you know uh you always have instances where you
have individuals um who can become a problem when I you know individual uh police police officers but I think as a as an over overarching approach that that community policing um you know
has worked for us. And to to add something to that which which reminded me is Shootsbury did community policing before there was such a term as community policing all of those years ago. Yeah. The the the chiefs and the officers were that's what they were doing. Um
>> and and to to have come back to that full circle and now have a a term to call it. Um so you know that was the part of what makes us special >> in that. So >> what they said But really
>> you trained him well. >> It's a good question on your part. It's a but that's that would be my answer be very very similar be to exactly. >> Yeah. >> Not a deficit. How much how could you make it greater? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Right. Right. Right. Exactly. >> Like I there's definitely work to be done this profession on a number of levels. Um but you know doing what we can again the opportunity would be amazing to have that platform but um
>> great well thank you so much for coming in I hope your voice improves >> you all so caring nice to meet Thank you. >> Polish. >> Okay. >> All right.
>> We have five minutes. Six. Six minutes >> for the next one. So, >> did that work out okay? >> It did. We perfectly have six minutes in between and >> okay >> I think it did >> we're staying on time.
>> We're staying on time and we have we have it down now. Melissa Eric Melissa my I just have to write my >> I did >> reminded to myself. All right. That's all right. Just make sure you like clang a lot of
chairs. >> Yeah. >> On your way out, make a distraction. >> Um, you went last one. Whatever. Are you guys ready for the next one? Do you want a breather? >> I'm I'm good. Yeah, you're good.
>> I saw someone in a suit and >> number 10 is Melissa. I get to see make sure I'm right here. >> We're ready. That's okay. >> We're ready. >> Um, he doesn't have to. I mean, we're going to do the second interview. It'll
probably take about an hour and then we do executive and I don't know how long that'll go and then we'll come back and then we'll announce >> I left after my interview. Couple hours. We're looking at a couple hours. Yeah. Yeah. Just a couple >> weather report between
Yeah. Okay. All right. >> Hello. >> My resume. >> Okay. >> As well as >> Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> I think we've all met, but uh All right. >> I'm Rita Frell. >> Eric. >> Well, I'm Eric. He knows me. >> I know him. >> Yeah. To the audience. >> So, we have some people in audience and on screen. Um, and they they will
they're here to listen, not to to ask questions. The questions will come from us board members. Excuse my voice. Um, so if you're okay, we're going to jump right in. Is that good? Okay. Um, so please tell us about yourself, your
interest in the position, and why you feel uniquely qualified for the role of chief uh police chief at Shespbury. >> Well, I'm Devon Palitier. I think you guys know me. Um, I feel uniquely qualified. I've been doing the job for the last six months. Um
I understand the needs of the community, the wants of the community, um the economics of the community, budgetary different budgetary um
restraints and what small town policing uh needs. Um and I think I'm uniquely qualified for it just because I've been doing it for the past six months. Okay. >> Is there anything else just about your
interest in the position? Like I think the first part was like tell us about yourself a little bit more in your interest in the position. So there might be people here who haven't met you. >> Oh. >> Um >> um well I've been with Shoots Fairy for
the last three years. Uh prior to that, uh I was with American International College for three years. Um and was the administrative sergeant at American International College. Um I hold some specialized certifications and sexual
assault investigation, crisis intervention training. I'm a certified school resource officer. Um and so I have the professional background for it. Uh, I like the administration piece to it. Um, and I'm
sorry, Rita, you said the second part was the interest in the position. >> Yes. And so, and why are you interested in being police chief here? >> Uh, I want to add stability uh to the town of Shootsair. I think we've been through several police chiefs um over
the course of the last decade. Um, and I believe some stability, some long-term stability of a police chief to to stick around and, you know, stay with the department to create that that stable
environment for the officers, but for also the community. >> Okay. As chief, you'd be responsible for organizing the department, establishing daily and long-term priorities, and designate an officer in charge in your absence. How would you approach organizing the Shootsbury Police
Department for efficiency, and what criteria would you use to set priorities? So, for priorities, a lot of priorities, you have to have long-term goals and
short-term goals. Um, and organization is key to that. Um, making sure that I'm a big fan of spreadsheets. Um, making sure that you have those, uh, those tools in place, which in turn
creates efficiency when you have, uh, when you have a lot of the spreadsheets, um, it can help you track your short-term goals, which eventually lead to your long-term goals. So as long as you stay on that path ultimately you
achieve all your goals. Would you do anything different to the organization of the department than what's already there? Probably you've well you've been there for a while so you've done a little organizing. So, um yeah, I've done some organizing uh with
with budgetary uh things trying to kind of uh make sure the money's being money is being spent appropriately um and re-emphasizing on uh our community policing initiatives. Uh we
did the community giving tree this year which was the first time for it and that was very successful. Um, and just kind of being having different community policing ideas, uh, rather than, you know, buying stuff, having actual events and and that sort of
thing. >> Um, okay. How um would you or how do you leverage the use of social media as a tool to interact with the public?
Sort of one piece and then um as a resource for your job functions like for investigations. and I give an example of um in the course of
your job if something came up with regard to a teen who is being harassed on social media. So, it's kind of social media as a way to communicate and then social media as
something that's present being used in our community that could present itself as a problem for an individual. I think we have to be careful with social media because although it's a
great tool um you know putting too much of yourself on the internet is can be problematic. Um that being said it is a good tool for uh posting information like the department Facebook page. I don't personally use
much social media at all. Um I have I do have like a Facebook but I don't post anything. Um if in terms of having a a um issue uh in town with social media
like you referenced with with um maybe a youth I there's a lot of times there's a lot of different um in fact I'm looking into one right now. There's a lot of different organizations that will do social media education. So, kind of educating
uh parents and the public on safe social media habits, uh parental controls, um those sorts of uhformational sessions that I think are very beneficial for parents and for everyone to to uh have
more of a understanding of what you can do on social media and how that all works. Um, as far as investigations, uh, social media can be useful for investigations, but it's, um, more of a
specialty niche for, uh, people that are specifically trained in and like cyber investigations in that aspect.
So that's not something So that's something that would be outsourced then >> it would depend on the situation. Um it would depend on the situation. Um it it depends on like if forensic uh if forensic recovery
needed to be done by a device or done from a device that would have to be outsourced to the state police crime lab um because they have the resources for it. Uh so certain aspects of it would have to be um outsourced to the state
police. Other aspects of it you know of you know using it as an investigative tool to kind of get background or um you know getting different data we could do inhouse >> and and in terms of how the department
itself communicates through social media how do you see that operating? I well I like transparency. >> How does it currently operate? >> Currently I I like transparency. So with road closures now we are struggling um
to get our Facebook numbers up there, our followers because we had to recreate a Facebook page. So follow us um and and it's a good tool to for public awareness. So, if a road's going to be
closed or um even when when storms are are coming, I've offered, you know, to put that type of information out there, too. Um so, I'd like to do more social media uh use forformational purposes. We
don't have, like I said, we don't have the um the following yet uh to really reach a lot of people with it, but that's why I think uh ultimately eventually it will be a really good tool
for that because we'll have a lot more uh reach on social media. Um it is being used now. Uh we used it for the community giving tree. Um, but we also asked uh because we partnered with the athletic club and the Shootsbury
Community Church, the fire department um and the school, we asked that they put on their social medias uh to the program flyer as well. And that actually helped draw in some followers to to our
Facebook, which was extremely helpful. Um, and it's a good, you know, it was it was a great way to bring in um folks from kind of all aspects of Shootsberry. Uh, the library as well,
the library's Facebook as well because they all have their own newsletters and and that sort of thing. And some people may, you know, follow the library newsletter but not follow the church. Um, so it was a way to kind of bring all of that in. Um, so I think there's a lot
of potential with with appropriate social media use. Um, >> and and do you see it as the police department's role to do social media education? I mean, I don't think it's something we've ever done here, right?
As far as I know. Have we? >> Oh, not through the police department. Um, >> but is that a is that an appropriate role? >> Uh, I I do believe it's an appropriate role for things such as road closures. Um, >> I'm I'm talking about social media education for parents.
>> Uh, yeah. Yeah. That falls under the purview of um the police department. I think if there's a uh, you know, an educational course available, uh, it behooves us to put that out there. Any free education, there is one now. um
that I that's going to be held and I plan on putting that information out for for parents. I know I've attended one I think it was in Leverit. Yeah, I was in Leverit um probably two years ago and it was extremely informational for uh
officers but also for for parents because you have specialists from all different areas. I I think it is our role to try to provide as many resources to the community as we possibly can.
>> Good. Thank you. >> What is your understanding of the role of a strong police chief in this community? What do you see as the role of the select board and town administrator? Well, a a strong police chief has um
basically operational control over day-to-day operations. Um that being said, the you know, the select board is uh elected and the town administrator is a um an extension of the select board.
So, you know, I believe that we all have to work together collaboratively to meet our common goals, our our common goals as a community. Um, and I think that's through collaboration. Um,
you know, there's, you know, the strong the strong chief statute, uh, points out that chiefs are in control of day-to-day operations, equipment, and those sorts of, um, things. But at at the same time, I think
when it comes to policies and that sort of thing, we should be seeking uh select board input and uh community input sometime with certain things uh to try to involve as many as many brains as possible is
always is normally always better um to try to get more input. And how about the town administrator? >> Uh the town administrator, as I said, is a a um extension of the select board. Um
you know, my view is uh the town administrator is kind of the not that I I don't like the the term gobetween. Um >> we like it. No, I'm just kidding. I don't like the term, but it's they go they, you know,
um because the town administrator is a full-time employee, uh a lot of those a lot of responsibilities fall on the the town administrator. So, um you know, I've worked closely with Haley over the last six months. Um and you know we have
a very good working relationship um as well as working with the select board members uh to so I view select board and the town administrator and just the you know the town and uh the town officials
in general as it's all good resources um to to further and to kind of like I've used the word collaborate a few times s but collaboration is very important. >> So the chief as you know acts as the
department e deputy I'm sorry deputy emergency management director. Can you please elaborate on your experience in emergency management and how this collaboration might be different or what how would you collaborate with the emergency manager in Shootes Prairie?
So, I've uh helped helped review the SEM plan uh the compreh for those that might not know the comprehensive emergency management plan um with Chief Sirwanka. Uh I work closely with Chief Sirwanka.
We have frequent um meetings kind of you know informal meetings uh about more emergency management related items. Uh I've been to the emergency management um the emergency the official emergency
management meetings uh as well as a tabletop exercise we had that I thought was very beneficial. Uh I do have the FEMA trainings. Um and because I'm school resource officer certified, a
large portion of school resource officer certification focuses on emergency management. um in the sense that schools are a very um sensitive uh
area. So there's a lot of different things, natural disasters and uh many different things. I've also met with the school and the emergency management director in in that capacity to make
sure we're all we have uh good plans and functional plans and that plans are being reviewed uh periodically to make sure that they're still uh up to date. Hey. Yeah. You good? >> Yeah, I'm good. >> All right. So, I'm going to give you a
situation and I'm going to tell you it's February now, even though it's really um Okay, here we are in February. That's a trick question. um in your 70s% through your fiscal year budget. A major snowstorm has caused an essential patrol
vehicle to slide, resulting in an accident that total the vehicle. Um insurance will cover the fair market value, but is insufficient to purchase a new cruiser equipped with the necessary radio and incar systems. How do you
manage this unanticipated expense and what steps would you take to address it? Well, being mostly through the fiscal year, I would leverage our small um cruiser maintenance budget. I
think if we're uh mostly through the year, we may be able to re, you know, use the remaining whatever remaining funds there there are in that account to absorb some of the cost. Uh, however, I I do believe we
have really good insurance. So, I I don't foresee that would be an issue. Um, but I I ultimately we'd have to go to the finance committee because our budget is very limited to absolute necessities,
operational needs. Um, so that being said, I would still try to use that cruiser maintenance budget if we were that close to the end of the fiscal year. And I knew that the maintenance on the other cruisers was sufficient to get
us to the next fiscal year. >> And is there anybody other than um the finance committee that you would select? Okay. >> Sorry. Yes. I would Yeah, I would first go to the select board and and and the
finance committee. >> Good. Thank you. >> Yes. This position requires the ability to work in a stressful and personally dangerous conditions. What is your approach to dealing with members of the public who may be upset or agitated?
Um, how would you manage stress and ensure the well-being of yourself and other officers in demanding situations? You can take it one and then the other if you want. You don't need to do them. Yeah, I I crisis intervention training
is a huge aspect of basic and and as well as sexual assault investigator training is a using traumainformed approaches to um interviewing um interviewing people and working with
members of the public. Um, also helping helping them through stressful situations, helping where we can provide resources. There's several great resources in Franklin County. Uh, if there's not something that we can help
them with, there's definitely an agency out there that that can help them. Uh, we have, you know, cso program, uh, many different many different programs. uh and having that information readily
available is important. Uh the the second part of the question was about how I manage stress. >> How do you manage stress and ensure the well-being of your officers sorry yourself and your officers in demanding situations? So not necessarily the same
but how do you and how would you have your officers deal with stress? How would you identify that? Well, the the way I I I think having a a strong foundation at home is incredibly important and having
if you if you limit your your stress at in your home life, you can kind of absorb everybody else's stress at work. Uh I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm not saying you can do it all the time. Um because we're all human. But I I would,
you know, try to mitigate um you know stressful stressful issues at home. I I have a very peaceful home fortunately. Um and I would try to encourage that with my officers too and you know maybe they're
having financial difficulties to try to try to assist them with budgeting and because ultimately we want our best selves showing up to to work to be able to deal with the stress that this job naturally entails. Um but I believe I
feel strongly that it all it all kind of starts at home and also having good support systems. I mean I'm a believer in uh you know counseling if it's necessary and having those uh resources available for not just the public but
for officers. There's there's many different agent um there's many different programs for officers that are dealing with stress. Uh I think one of the one of the um shortcomings of smaller police departments is uh
typically within larger departments you have um crisis debriefings after like big calls. And I think that would be something that Shootsberry and smaller communities should uh be a little bit
better at. And you know, for efficiency, we can join that with the fire department since they're with us on most calls. Um, but having all those those resources in place is incredibly important. And so when something big
happens or something really serious happens, we're not scrambling to figure out who we need to call. We already know who we need to call. So there there's a lot of different aspects to that question, but it all comes down to to to resources and
having strong foundations. So can I follow up? Um so in in a in an instance kind of going back to the the first part of the question um what is
your approach when when you encounter um an individual who's obviously very agitated not physically hostile but verbally hostile to you as a police officer. Um what what's your approach?
Well, we're trained in verbal deescalation, a lot of it, especially with cris crisis intervention training is highly focused on verbal deescalation. Uh trying to build rapport. Uh so it might not, you know, it might not be
about something anything police related or anything to what's going on, but if you can find one thing to connect with uh someone about the common interest, that can really help deescalate a situation. Uh, so I I
think you really have to focus on bringing the the temperature down, not not going to calls all amped up. Um, because what you bring to the call ultimately
translates into adding to the call. So, if you go to the call very calm, your calmness can help calm people down. And I think a lot of times we're responding to people who are having real emergencies that are it could be the worst, you
know, day of their life and lives. And we have to be very uh very informed on that and and be very very caring and compassionate when we're dealing dealing with um anybody that's
struggling with mental health issues. And obviously with with calls like that you do have um EMS that's a you know EMS would be coming to evaluate but we have although we don't have co-response in
our town yet we we still have access to cso's mobile um mobile response team >> cso is >> clinical support options um it's the it's kind of the it's the crisis team for this area. Um I don't want to say
Franklin County, they might serve some of Hampshire County, too. So, um but for this area, um they have a mobile unit that you can try to reach. Um and or that that will come out and assist you
with those things because sometimes we have to we have to take a step back and recognize that they're the experts in dealing with with those situations. So we can ultimately try to keep it calm and safe
until those people can get on scene and make their evaluations as well. >> Thank you. >> Okay. A well-known spray resident and a um and friend calls you, the police chief directly on your personal phone.
The friend has just been pulled over by one of your officers for driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit in a residential area of town. They are visibly upset, acknowledging they were speeding, but explaining they were rushing to a family emergency and asking
if you can personally intervene with the officer. How do you guide the officer in the appropriate leverage of their dis discretion in this situation while maintaining fairness and adherence to departments? I'm a little I'm a little confused on
the question. How do I am Am am I on the phone with the operator or the officer? >> You're on the phone. Well, you're on the phone initially with the uh with the operator. >> The Yeah, the operator. >> The friend of yours driving the car.
>> I I think you know I I want to be compassionate to the friend and say that uh you know I am sorry they're having an emergency. However, um I have as high standards of my friends as I do of my officers. Um so
that I would hope they would call us in the event of an emergency. Um I >> In this case, they've gotten stopped for speeding. >> Right. >> So they've gotten stopped for speeding and they're saying, "Hi, can you help me? I have one of your officers here who's >> Yes. The answer is no." Because it's not
ethical. Um and you know I even you know everybody has to follow the law and and there are however you know the that officer has discretion um depending on the situation
you know you know you have to trust your officers uh trust your officers to use their discretion and it shouldn't matter uh who you are it it shouldn't matter um you know what your name is or any any of that. Um, I would trust that officer to
use their discretion appropriately. Um, I don't think the officer would need any any um followup from me because I'd be confident in their decision- making and uh basically they would be doing a
good job as long as they they did everything legally and ethically in my opinion. So that's what you tell officer basically because the question was how do you guide the officer? That was the and I guess you guide the officer by
saying as long as you're doing everything legal and all that everything's cool in all situations you have to do the right thing the the ethical and the ethical thing and have integrity. Um, so
yeah, I mean I I don't there wouldn't really it's kind it's kind of a confusing question only because like it doesn't add enough context like are they giving the phone to the officer? Am I talking to the officer after the fact? Um, so
you know that so that those kinds of things are confusing. Either either way, you know, the I would tell the officer, you know, use your use your discretion and do your job and do the right thing. >> Right. I I Okay.
>> Okay. The chief of police in Shootsbury serves a dual role as both a working chief who responds to calls and also an administrative leader responsible for policy training and departmental oversight. This dual role can create some unique
challenges. Can you provide a concrete example of a time when your direct engagement with the call for service or a resident directly informed departmental policy change or led to a new training
initiative? So you were on the front line, something happened. Do you have an example? >> I I don't really have an example. We have very comprehensive policies. um uh you know about a thousand pages worth.
Um so I don't have an example of something that led to a policy change. That being said, when when we respond to a situation and maybe
it doesn't go the way we all wanted it to, we always analyze that after the fact and see what we could have done differently. and you know make sure we're adhering to policy too um because there is a lot of policies uh so being familiar with them
is is knowing them is very crucially important. I can't think of a specific instance though where that has been >> where we've had to change policy. >> Can I ask can I ask a followup to that? Yeah. So if how how would you if there
was a policy that needed a change in the department? What process would you go through to change a policy if there was one that appeared in an interaction? >> Uh what well >> what's your process for changing >> well so ultimately policy there's a lot
of model policies. So um through EMPAC which is the municipal police accreditation commission um they they might not necessarily have the the policies but surrounding towns might have had similar issues. So I think using those local resources to get
accredited policies and they might not fit in um with our small town. So we might have so the the first process would be seeing if there's a model policy that already exists that's been accredited and the accreditation process
involves lawyers looking over it making sure it's compliant with state law, constitutional law um seeing if there's any collective bargaining uh ramifications. Uh so with that um
you know you would you'd have the policy kind of drafted for you and in a sense you could write it from scratch but those policies are always a good place to start. then you would kind of customize it to our
small community cuz certain things like rank structures, stuff like that kind of um differs from area to area. So then you would have legal counsel uh town council look over it and I I would want
the uh select board and you know the town administrator's opinions on the policy too as well as the officers opinions on having um their input on these policies. Um I think that fully answers that
>> it does. Yeah. So I have another part to mine. Um can you describe a situation where your close community ties or your daily interactions presented a professional challenge and explain how you manage that situation to maintain
impartiality and professional boundaries. So close community ties I I think the only time that comes up is gift giving uh or has come up is gift giving and uh
I think just having a really uh you know um being professional uh and you can accept gifts but knowing the the the ethical standards behind them and and I that's the only thing I can think of on the
spot where my you know I guess your community I guess it kind of relates to your community ties um because people want to be generous but as as public employees we we fall under um the ethics ethic commissions and laws um that's the only really
>> but that's that has that's an example of something that has come up for you. >> Yeah. Well, not that I've had to turn down turn down anything but like for instance a gift card a gift card had uh come up. I just had to make sure that
the value was under $50. Um because we have to be conscious of those things especially especially in um public safety roles uh because we don't you know you never want to give the make it seem like you know you're
getting any special treatment because of the the position you hold. >> Thank you. Um, beyond general accessibility, the um, beyond general accessibility, what
specific community policing programs or initiatives would you prioritize implementing in Shootbury? Um, I'll let you do that first and then I'll second question. >> So, we did we did the the community giving tree this year which was hugely successful. Um, I I think that I would
like to carry that on every year. We had a lot of interest in it and I think it brought some holiday spirit back to the town hall. Um, and we're also working on a a well, we have it figured out, but the female
self-defense class um is one thing I would like to get in the future. Um, that should be coming soon. Uh, I've also connected with the Ammeris Police Chief because they have a
continuing class that they do. And so if there's interest in um, you know, folks continuing to be in self-defense classes, they might be able to offer uh, offer more classes because the reality of
small town policing is is smaller budgets. So, we want to provide those, you know, it's it's great to provide those initial um initial programs and then to try to find another maybe
another community or another organization where um they can continue with with that specific example, they could continue um doing those types of uh activities. Um there's there's several, you know, different community
policing ideas. Um I like events. I like being part of Halloween. We've done we did the trunk or treat. This was our second year with the trunk or treat. That's always we we had a big crowd this year, too. Um we were part of the
community bonfire, uh which was great because we haven't been part of that in the past. So, uh, the fire department was gracious in and letting us be part of that this year. So, just trying to kind of get involved in, um, existing community events more
and, you know, creating some new ones as well. Um, how would you measure the effectiveness of these programs in terms of building trust and improving community police relations and how might you adapt them given feedback or a
changing community need? >> You there's a lot of tools to do uh surveys. So you you could follow up with surveys. Um, you know, I think it's important to collect email information for community giving tree. We collected email information. And there's there's
ways you can follow up uh to kind of get the metrics on on those different programs to see if it's something the community likes and wants. It's it's kind of easy in the sense to tell because if you get a lot of interest in
it and a lot of people participate in it, you know that it's something the town likes and enjoys. Um well I think you know especially with the community giving tree is we want to make sure going forward I think we're
going to get a lot of increased interest throughout the year. So kind of monitoring keeping track of those numbers. you know, I I have the spreadsheet for, you know, for to keep track of, you know, how much participation
there was. Um, and keeping track, so keeping track over the years of once again with the spreadsheets, but keeping track over the years of, you know, how much participation we're getting. If something's starting, if the participation is starting to drop off,
then maybe, you know, we need to adjust the program. um to bring in to bring in new, you know, new people, new folks to the program or create a new program. Um so kind of being ear to the ground with the community and what the community
wants and sometimes the best way to do that is to ask the community. >> All right. Well, this is kind of a tough question because it just sort of assumes that um well, it it talks about you being being the police chief in the future. You are the police chief now,
but uh anyway, the role of police chief is critical in establishing tone, vision, and operational priorities for the department and the community. And assuming you you are given this role to continue in this role, um do you have any strategic plans for the uh first 90
days as police chief? What are the three main priorities during this critical onboarding period and what specific actions will you take to execute them? I think I my main priority um that I haven't been able to
uh address yet is to get another full-time officer. Uh we are short a full-time officer at the moment since there's no one in the uh salary chief position. So that would be objective number one to be able to provide some
relief to to myself and to to officer Magguire. Um mainly officer Magcguire we you know and overtime and those sorts of things. Uh so but I'd like to keep doing what I am doing which is you know really having a
community-based focus. um still being active in our patrolling efforts, addressing um the concerns of the community. We got the 25 mph townwide um speed limit passed. Uh and that's just
another it's another tool for us to mitigate speeding on in areas like dirt roads where um you can't post them. So being really, you know, staying um
in line with the the community and fulfill and listening and fulfilling those needs and those concerns of what's important and what they see as issues and to keep functioning in that way and keep collaboration as well. Um I the the
fire department, the police department, the highway department work phenomenally together. Now, um we've I think improved a lot of relationships um not with our interdep departmental um
system, but also with external departments, other police departments. Uh and that's been extremely beneficial. >> Okay, cool. Um I'm I got a couple more parts to this question that um I'll I'll
ask here as best I can. Describe your plan for conducting a thorough assessment of the department like the personnel resources and current operations. You've already mentioned some of that like the full-time officer. um which key internal and external stakeholders, for example, the select
board officers, community groups will you prioritize meeting with during this time and what specific information will you seek from each? So, I've done a deep dive into the budget. I've gone into the last three
years uh when I when I first came into this role, I went into the last three years of the budget to see where our money was being spent. Um where we could potentially save money and
you know how to because our budget is is very limited. uh we you know when we need things such as equipment and those sorts of things if we can keep cost down for things such as toner I've mentioned this before but
toner I was able to cut the price down by half by using uh recycled cartridges um there's ways to save money and ultimately those little things add up so taking I've kind of already taken a comprehensive look at the department I'm
also Franklin County as a whole um through the chief association is trying to or wants to adopt um kind of policies across the board for police departments. Now, they're going to they're going to
differ a little bit based on departments because the policies that we would be referencing off of are a larger department that has a much more robust um rank structure and different units and uh and that sort of thing. But
taking a hard look at policies um taking a hard look at and and having officers review uh policies and staying on a schedule of reviewing policies because I believe that we need to be very very familiar with those policies and
procedures. Um and you can in you know town town um resources we can or town committees that we could use. We can definitely use uh you know request insight of the finance committee
um the select board uh different uh other different committees uh and organizations. FURCOG uh for for a lot of traffic safety related matters. FURCOG can be great right now. Uh we have Furkcog coming in
on on Thursday to look at the intersection of the library uh cuz that was a concern. So really just um staying on on on top of kind of going through how the department
has done things in the past and making sure that we're doing things the most efficient the most efficient way and most coste effective way. uh and really taking a deep deep look into that which I have done. There has been a lot of
a lot of work um that has has needed to be uh done to to bring us up to certain stand uh certain standards. So based on your understanding of Shootsbury of your department, can you
identify one specific achievable early win if you will like in the first 90 days what you would sort of prioritize the first 90 days and hopefully you know get a win out of the situation and make you look good and make the department look good, the town look good and us
look good. >> Most importantly, yeah. Well, an achiev Well, there's a couple achievable wins, I think, on the horizon. Um, we've put in for some new we're hoping through a a program that we
might get uh uh trailers uh speed trailers, and I know that will help with areas such as the lake. um that would be a win for the town because they are probably one of the most requested items
um for areas where we're having speeding issues. I think it would be a really good win for the town to get another full-time employee because it's not it's not just a win for the the police department. I think it's a win for the town because it provides
us with with optimal coverage. Uh and that's what we we seek to to have. um you know, we wouldn't have I I would say getting that candidate selected um within the first 90 days.
They're not going to be, you know, field trained and everything within those 90 days. But getting a really good candidate in here that has the same core values that we have in the department and wants to work in a small town and and and
wants to stay for longevity um with the department. So that that would be the best achievable goal. But okay, thank you. And the last question
um imagine you have identified a recurring identified recurring issues in shoots fair. Couple of examples um increased complaints about minor property damage such as vandalism and irresponsible motorboat use. Sound
familiar? At Lake Wyola during the summer. Um, as the chief, you have a limited budget and a small team to address these seasonal enforcement demands. Um, how do you go about creating
programs to address these issues? >> Well, I actually have an example of of that. Um, with with the lake, we have a boat that's been parked up at the the EPO's have a boat up at the lake.
environmental police officers. >> Environmental police, sorry. Yes. Environmental police officers um have a boat up at the lake and it's currently, I believe, parked in the DCR area. Uh, I know in the past there was talk about
potentially getting uh dock access from um from uh the Lake Biola Association and the EPOS would be happy to put that boat on the water and keep it on the water. And
that way we we would potentially be able to do patrols with EPOs to do some um enforcement but more education. Uh education and enforcement I I think are equally as important um to be out on the
lake. So that's you know as a hypothetical uh trying to utilize the you know state resources that are available other local uh resources that
are available you know I you know another example with this is a community policing example so it's not specific to this question but using you know Ammerst police is is happy to um have our residents go to
their self-defense training. So, kind of, you know, using that network of other agencies and and being able to communicate with them, have good rapport with them, and uh you
know, we're able to help each other, too. We we have a lot to offer as the Shootsberry Police Department, as well. Um we do a lot of uh we respond to a lot of calls um outside of town as support. So we have very we have very good
coverage. So we we are backup on a lot of calls in other towns. Uh so we offer we bring stuff to the table as well. But being able to use those those relationships to to meet the objectives
while realizing that we have a small budget and and less you know not a robust amount of personnel as well. personnel uh you know considerations have to be taken into account too because if I have an officer in a boat,
I also have to have an officer on land um for liability purposes. Uh if there's a call on land that's serious, it takes time to dock a boat and all of those things. So there there's a lot of uh considerations in that aspect, but I I
think the working with the lieutenant um from the environmental police um trying to to find a way to use their resources and they're happy to do it too. They're happy to to help. So
making those relationships and um keeping them strong by all working together. Um, so just a couple of quick followups. Um, how would you measure, let's say you came up with a program and maybe was, you know, using the the boats with the,
um, the environmental police officers. How would you measure the effectiveness of any program? And I guess I'll just put piggyback on the rest of it. And then, um, how would you gather feedback from the community
and adapt a program? Let's let's let's say I don't know if the boat is the best one. You had a vandalism. You you came up with some ideas about how to if we were having vandalism in town, you came up with the program. How would you how would you measure the effectiveness and
then how do you gather feedback from the community? Well, I so with something, you know, uh with like vandalism, the >> I guess it kind of depends on the type
of vandalism. Um you know, if we're we're talking about um you know, a big like a lot of mailboxes, maybe that's probably right. Right. Or or stealing signs.
>> Yeah. um en encouraging and the encouraging the community to uh report something. If they uh if they see an issue to report it to us as quick as possible because the the quicker something's reported, the more chance we
have at um mitigating that issue. Um and keeping an open line to the community because the community is the best eyes and ears. Um and a lot of day a lot of uh times now albeit driveways are tend
to be very long in shoots vary but a lot of uh in some areas namely Lebert road and and a few other areas um many people have cameras these days. So using using all of the, you know, asking the
community if we can have maybe access to or they can check to see if um they have any video footage so we can try to to figure out who's doing it and then we can figure out how to address it. Um, and I think the, you know, as far as
figuring out the effectiveness of it, um, I think if we were able to to catch the the individuals, um, it would make it very effective. Um and you know if we if we weren't able to um
we would have to kind of take a look at how how we could um improve in the future or you know use different methods in the in the future. But there are many different ways um with with something something in
regards to that where you could utilize the community to be on the lookout and and help with those those types of um complaints. >> Thank you. And lastly, um do you have any questions
for us? >> I I don't have any question. That's honest. >> Well, we really appreciate your taking the the time. >> Thank you. Yeah.
>> Yes. Good to see you, Kevin. >> See you later. >> Oh, thank you. Okay, now our next step is to um go into
executive session for reason number eight to consider our applicants for uh potential employment or appointment. So do I hear motion go executive session? Everyone on screen will how would we like
>> I think what's going to be is I'll cut audio. Anybody want to stop recording? Okay, I'm going to leave the stream up, but I'm going to ask that folks still remove themselves and you can always click to go back into the meeting and it'll prompt me to let you in we're
done. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> So, you'll It's basically a waiting room. >> Yep. >> Go back to a waiting room. Okay. >> Yep. So, if we could um once we go into executive session, everyone on screen could
um go out and come back in at their comments. Um so I'll make a motion to enter executive session for reason number eight to consider the applicants for employment or appointment um
by preliminary screening as um if open meeting law would be sorry open meeting will be detrimental effect to obtain qualified applicants provided. Um however this clause shall not apply to any meeting includes including meetings
of players meeting committee to consider um and interview applicants who have passed prior um so for Devon or and Peter's >> um I'll second and we're not going back we are >> return to public session return to
public session at the end of our at the end of the meeting. Yeah. So I'll second that. Okay. All those in favor? >> Stucker I. >> Frell. I make peace. O'Neal. I >> Okay. Okay. All right.