PITTSFIELD — The Town Council learned Tuesday night a new officer had been hired for the Pittsfield Police Department, which for months has been contending with a staffing shortage.

At the council’s first in-person meeting in months, Chief Harold “Pete” Bickmore said the new officer is scheduled to begin next week. The officer has 16 years of experience and comes to Pittsfield from the Portland Police Department.

“He’s going to be a great addition to the department,” Bickmore said. “He has a lot of experience.”

The hiring is the latest step to address a shortage of officers that has lasted most of the year. The council has passed a number of measures this year to attract new officers. Last month, for example, councilors approved a pay increase for all officers. Before that, the council loosened the town’s residency requirement and approved a $15,000 bonus for new hires.

The town is still working to hire more officers.

In other matters, councilors moved forward with the town’s ongoing airport construction project that is to include building a town-owned hangar and improving the taxiway. For the work, councilors voted Tuesday to accept a $1.3 million bid submitted by Blane Casey Building Contractor Inc. of Augusta.

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Town Manager Kathryn Ruth said previously the plan is to work on designs and bidding over the winter and begin construction next summer.

Councilors also approved spending up to $12,000 to seal cracks at the airport. The money is to come from the town’s airport reserve account.

The town’s contribution to other airport construction will be less than expected, so the money spent on sealing cracks will leave enough funding for the other construction projects, according to officials.

Tuesday marked the council’s first in-person meeting in many months and came after contentious discussions at previous meetings among councilors concerning COVID-19 protocols.

Councilor Amanda Collamore and Mayor Heather Donahue attended the meeting over Zoom. Collamore, who had voted previously in favor of in-person meetings, said she was participating remotely because she was getting over a cold.

At the council’s last meeting, there was confusion about a spring council vote that set a policy stipulating formats would depend on the level of COVID-19 transmission in Somerset County, as reported by the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention.

Several councilors said previously the spring vote was no longer valid because it was passed under the state of emergency that Gov. Janet Mills declared last year, which has since expired. The council voted Tuesday to amend the meeting protocols to remove the spring vote from the record.

The council chambers provided well-spaced seating for councilors and the public, and two air filtration systems, although they were turned down for the meeting because of the noise.

Members of the public attended in person and over Zoom.

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