An exterior view Tuesday of the Hallowell Police Department, located in the basement of Hallowell City Hall. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — The Hallowell Police Department is down to just two full-time officers this week after Maine Criminal Justice Academy graduate Noah Lebel left to join the Gardiner Police Department as a patrolman.

“We know our officer pay is not attracting applicants,” City Manager Gary Lamb wrote in a memo to the City Council in August. “Our police station office space (in the basement of Hallowell City Hall) is disgusting and a very negative influence on recruitment. It is a damp space prone to flooding and mold, and it looks like zero maintenance has been performed for a great many decades.”

The two factors harm retention efforts and deter potential applicants.

The city has not budgeted for a new police patrol vehicle since 2019, and technology in the patrol cars and in the basement office is old and slow, Interim Chief Christopher Giles said.

An interior view Aug. 22 of the Hallowell Police Department, located in the basement of Hallowell City Hall. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

During Monday night’s City Council meeting, the council approved a motion to explore improvements to the basement police office and to attempt to reopen the union contract with city employees to improve police officer pay. At-large Councilor Walter McKee said it was likely that the funding for increased pay to potential police officer hires would come out of the pay budget for one of the unfilled positions.

The City Council had expressed support over the summer for moving the Police Department into another building nearby, but the idea was among the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts the council made to reduce property tax increases.

Lebel is the second member of the Hallowell Police Department to leave for Gardiner in just the past month — former Chief Christopher Lewis left on Aug. 29. The chief before Lewis, Scott MacMaster, left the department to become a Gardiner patrolman in February 2023.

Officer Michaela Trudeau left in November to join the Knox County Sheriff’s Office for $10 more per hour, and Hallowell has not received applications for the open position.

An interior view Aug. 22 of the Hallowell Police Department in the basement of Hallowell City Hall. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

With the department down to just two of its full roster of five officers, the city has asked the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and Maine State Police to add Hallowell to their regular rural patrols. The Sheriff’s Office and State Police rotate coverage of the six patrol zones in the county, and deputies assigned to those patrol areas respond to calls within their zone, but only when they are available to do so.

Hallowell is part of Zone 6 of the county’s patrol areas, along with Farmingdale, Gardiner, West Gardiner, Litchfield and Monmouth.

“They’re going to have to fall in line with all the other towns that we service,” Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason said.

The city can hire an additional county deputy for a dedicated four-hour shift in Hallowell for $85 per hour, if needed — which Lamb said the city may need to do until the Police Department returns to regular staffing levels, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. The deputy would be working an overtime shift and would not be scheduled to work in another area during that time.

The funds for the dedicated deputy would come out of the city’s compensation budget for the three vacant positions.

While the Police Department has just two officers, Giles said the lone officer on duty will have a tough time balancing administrative duties with patrolling — especially given the old technology used for filing police reports and other paperwork. The department has also had to replace in-person trainings for online versions because, as the only one on duty, officers cannot leave Hallowell, Giles said.

“We’re only one person, we don’t have time to do the proactive patrols,” Giles said.