During the Nov. 12 budget workshop meeting, the Budget Committee and Town Council heard a presentation about items not being considered in this year’s proposed budget.
For the Police Department that included the addition of six more police officers, with two of them dedicated to traffic enforcement.
Town Councilor Ron Dunn said he got good feedback from people in Town who would support having two officers for traffic safety.
Police Chief Kim Bernard said traffic continues to be a major concern in Town.
“We have traffic problems in town, it’s no secret we hear it all the time,” Bernard said.
Bernard stated, currently they don’t have enough officers to have enough hours in the day to be able to dedicate a significant amount of time towards traffic enforcement.
If they were to move forward with two full-time officers dedicated towards traffic enforcement, Bernard said the idea would be to have them patrol based on commuter traffic.
“Up to 80 hours a week is a heck of a lot better than seven,” Bernard said about the potential increase for traffic enforcement.
It was explained that if they were to go with just the two officers for traffic enforcement as a warrant article, then it would be about $367,801 for the first year and then approximately $313,000 a year for recurring costs which would include benefits.
Bernard said during the meeting, that if they were to be able to get two officers for traffic, it would be helpful.
“I think two would be ideal,” Bernard said, explaining it would be a good start.
Bernard said that they continue to look at ways to help with traffic, including by looking for different grants.
“I don’t know what else to do for the community to ease those concerns because I don’t have the people,” Bernard said about the traffic concerns.
No decision was made during the meeting.
The potential future plans by the Fire Department to be able to look at staffing 15 or 17 new members per battalion, to be more in line with the national standards was also discussed during the meeting.
If the department were to go with 15 members per battalion it would mean the addition of eight firefighters based on their current staffing model, and if they were to move to 17 per battalion it would mean they would have an additional 16 new firefighters.
The approximated cost for 16 new full-time members would be at $2,513,121.91, and for eight it would be at $1,258,060.96 based on salaries and benefits.
Deputy Fire Chief Phil LeBlanc said they were proposing to include it in the budget or to put it forward this year to the voters, and instead it is discussion for the future, and that instead their goal for this year is to make sure overtime is funded appropriately.
LeBlanc said there are a number of things that they look at including growth, volume of calls, and traffic as examples.