The Jay-Wilton Police Collaboration Committee told the Wilton Select Board that challenges facing their departments have made some kind of collaboration a necessity.

The committee, formed by the towns to look at ways for the two departments to share services, presented details of four options to the board members during its meeting Tuesday.

Representing Wilton on the committee are Town Manager Maria Greeley, police Chief Ethan Kyes, Selectpersons David Leavitt and Keith Swett, and community members Sarah Caton and Mat Bickford.

Representing Jay are Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere, police Chief Joseph Sage, Selectpersons Lee Ann Dalessandro and Terry Bergeron, and community members Lisa Bryant and Jennifer Lynch.

One of the biggest hurtles, Sage said, is retaining officers. Both the Wilton and Jay departments were understaffed at times over the last year, he said.

“We are just trying to survive going from call to call,” he said.

Sage said that out of this struggle, the towns began talking about “how they might be able to share resources and still maintain the same level of service.”

Police departments across the state are facing similar challenges.

“Throughout the entire state of Maine … a lot more officers are retiring than are coming out of the academy graduating,” Sage said. “So, over the years what we are seeing is a very small, dwindling pool of resources we can pull from to hire and recruit.”

Any time there is a staffing shortage, a police department’s ability to provide the same level of service or better is diminished, Sage said.

“It’s not just a localized problem for us,” he said. “The state of Maine is trying to stay ahead of the curve and we try to collaborate as much as we can.”

One of the first things the committee looked at is areas where services are already or can be easily shared. The towns share an animal control officer, for example, and some training can be done together. Additionally, the school resource officer is shared and paid for by Regional School Unit 73, and Jay’s Maine Drug Enforcement Agency position is 100% funded by the state.

Looking ahead, collaboration can be considered for certain technology acquisitions, specialized training and obtaining compliance to required standards, the committee determined.

“All require time and energy that smaller departments don’t have,” Sage said. “Small departments feel that pressure sooner and a lot more frequently than bigger agencies.”

Both police departments operate below minimum staff levels, have similar demographics and population size, and similar budgets. Their department structures are also similar, but Jay has one more officer.

“So, our task was to come up with a solution that’s going to be both be viable and in the best interest of both communities at large,” Sage said. “Every solution we came up with has pros and cons.”

The four options presented were:
• Maintain separate police departments in each town with no changes.
• Contract jointly with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to provide police services.
• Have one town provide police services to the other through a contractual arrangement.
• Create a new, jointly governed police entity through a quasi-municipal or district-style structure serving both towns.

In the first option, everything would stay the same. Sage said it was the “kicking the can down the road” option. On the plus side, nothing would have to change and officers could continue to build relationships within the community, but the challenges would also remain, he said.

The second option to contract services with the Sheriff’s Office had many pros, including the fact that they are a bigger department with more resources. In an estimated budget based on 2025 costs, Jay’s contract would be for $1.28 million and Wilton’s would be for $1.18 million for a combined $2.24 million budget. The Sheriff’s Office would provide coverage with 11 staff.

Some of the cons detailed by Sage centered around town identity, a theme that repeated for each of the committee’s options. There would be less local control, he said, and current Jay and Wilton officers would not be guaranteed jobs with the Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, each town would have to provide office space for deputies, so there would still be overhead costs. Expected emergency response time from deputies is not yet known.

Sage said the committee is watching what is happening in Dixfield and Mexico, which contracted policing services with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.

The third option, for one town to contract with the other, predicts that a larger department would help increase officer retention, reduce overtime and burnout, and help the towns retain some local identity, Kyes said. Some cons would be that one town would make all the operational and financial decisions, while the other town holds a contract for services.

This option would split 17 officers, one supervisor per shift, plus a detective, for 24/7 services.

Other towns in Maine have done similar arrangements, with some success. Sage reiterated that, “our goal is to provide same or better service for the cost.”

The fourth option would establish a quasi-municipal corporation in which Jay and Wilton share authority. There would be 18 total staff providing 24/7 services. The model would allow for other area police departments to merge in as well. The budget, they said, is a little higher than the proposed Sheriff’s Office contract, but has more officers.

“It’s its own entity but controlled by both towns,” Kyes said. “That way you are not losing the local control that we want to have in our communities.”

Both towns would have equal say in what happens, Kyes said, with committee or board oversight. Some of the drawbacks are that it would take a lot of effort to set up the entity, there would be attorney fees and some initial capital investment.

The Jay Select Board will hear the same presentation at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, at the Town Office.

Once the Select Boards have made a decision on which option they want to choose, committee members said they will provide support for their choice.