MADISON — Town officials decided Monday they will not be sending Madison’s police services contract out to bid, effectively ruling out the possibility that the Skowhegan Police Department would compete against the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office this year for the opportunity to patrol the town.
The Madison Select Board had considered the possibility of opening up the contract to bids after receiving interest from town officials in Skowhegan.
The board on Monday considered an early draft of a request for proposals, or RFP, the document that specifies the information contractors would need to submit.
After a discussion at Monday night’s meeting, Select Board member Kathy Estes, who first floated the idea of seeking other policing options at an Oct. 18 meeting, made a motion that the town continue developing the RFP.
No other Select Board member seconded the motion, so the board did not vote on it.
The lack of a vote means the town will not move forward with the bid process — at least for now, with preparations beginning soon for the annual budget to be presented at June’s town meeting.
Madison has contracted with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office to provide dedicated policing services for the town since the Madison Police Department disbanded in 2015. The decision to eliminate the department was made as the town of about 5,000 people faced a significant decline in tax revenue due to the demise of Madison Paper Industries.
The yearly contracts are negotiated between the town and county. Like other town spending, the proposed price of the contract is reviewed as part of the budget presented at the annual town meeting each June.
The current contract, running from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, came in at a price of $576,025.92. That is in addition to the county tax assessment of $935,907.01 Madison is paying this fiscal year.
The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office assigns the equivalent of three full-time deputies and an executive secretary to Madison, according to the terms of the contract. The contract allows the deputies assigned to Madison shifts to respond to calls in other parts of the county in emergency situations.
Vehicle costs are factored into the town’s payment. The Sheriff’s Office also provides other supplies and is required to make certain periodic reports to town officials, the contract says.
The Skowhegan Police Department would have been able to provide the same level and type of services as the Sheriff’s Office, Skowhegan Town Manager Dawn DiBlasi said Tuesday.
“We’re fine with it either way,” said DiBlasi, who worked as the Somerset County administrator from 2013 to 2023. “They had expressed interest, so we said, ‘OK, here’s what we can do.’”
Chief David Bucknam of the Skowhegan Police Department, who DiBlasi said was more involved in talks with Madison officials, did not return a phone call Tuesday.
DiBlasi, Bucknam, Madison Town Manager Denise Ducharme and Madison Select Board Chairman Albert Veneziano met in mid-November for a preliminary discussion about the Skowhegan Police Department’s interest in working with Madison, according to DiBlasi and Ducharme.
Skowhegan officials said then their town could provide four officers and two vehicles with rotating assignments, Ducharme reported to the Select Board Nov. 18, according to meeting minutes. The Skowhegan Police Department would offer patrol and investigative services and would rebrand their logos and patches to include Madison, Ducharme reported.
The meeting with Skowhegan officials came amid ongoing discussions in Madison about its law enforcement services contract.
Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster told the Madison Select Board at the end of 2023 that his office was “almost in a crisis mode,” with staffing levels at about 50%.
Town officials at that point had ruled out reestablishing a municipal police department. They offered residents the chance to express their concerns in February 2024 as they began contract talks with the Sheriff’s Office.
Estes, the Select Board member, brought up the possibility of seeking another law enforcement agency to contract with the town at a meeting Oct. 18. She said then that some residents have complained about the service the Sheriff’s Office has provided, and the Skowhegan Police Department could be another option.
“I just thought we owe it to the town,” Estes said, explaining her position again during Monday night’s meeting.
Veneziano, the chairman, said Monday he was “perfectly happy” with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office but was not necessarily opposed to seeking bids from other agencies. He said he was encouraged by what he heard when he met with Bucknam and DiBlasi.
The majority of the board, however, was not convinced.
Select Board member Ron Moody said he was not sure Madison’s residents would gain anything if the town contracted with another agency. “It’s a waste of time,” he said.
Moody said many law enforcement agencies are struggling to hire officers, citing the Mexico Police Department’s recent suspension of operations and the Maine State Police’s cutback of rural patrols.
“Right now,” Moody said, “we’re lucky to have what we’ve got.”
The two other Select Board members, Shawn Bean and Sally Dwyer, both commented during Monday’s meeting that they have observed an improvement in the Sheriff’s Office presence in Madison.
Staffing levels have improved in the last year.
As of Tuesday, 16 of the Sheriff’s Office’s 17 budgeted full-time patrol deputy positions were filled, according to Somerset County Administrator Tim Curtis, who was Madison’s town manager from 2015 to 2023.
Staffing levels fluctuate and the county is actively hiring, Curtis wrote in an email Tuesday.
Madison also now has a dedicated school resource officer through a separate agreement with the Sheriff’s Office: Deputy Michael Pike officially began in the position Jan. 1. The agreement — funded by the town, the county and Maine School Administrative District 59 — runs through June 30.
Pike could be assigned elsewhere in Somerset County when school is not in session, but the agreement states the “best practice” is for him to continue working assignments in the Madison community, such as through the town’s recreation program.
Had Madison’s policing services gone out to bid this spring, it would not have been the first time Lancaster’s office and Bucknam’s department competed for the opportunity to provide their services.
In 2023, the two offered to provide a second school resource officer for Skowhegan-based Maine School Administrative District 54, assigned to the district’s schools in Norridgewock and Canaan. The Skowhegan Police Department already had a school resource officer assigned to the schools in Skowhegan.
The MSAD 54 board of directors ultimately picked the Sheriff’s Office to staff the new position.
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