Ashland residents packed a public hearing Wednesday to debate whether to close the town’s police department.
Nearly 200 people attended the more than two-hour session, a precursor to a Thursday night town vote.
The possibility of closing the department arose during an Oct 19 Town Council meeting because of residents’ concerns about property taxes.
If the vote to close should pass, Ashland would be the sixth rural police force Maine has lost in the last six years — three of those in Aroostook County — due to money and staffing problems. It would leave the region with six municipal police departments and add another town to the jurisdiction of state troopers and sheriff’s deputies.
Speakers overwhelmingly favored keeping the department, but some hoped for a compromise to lower taxes.
“Ashland used to be a boom town. It’s not that way anymore,” Boyd Tibbetts said. “It’s like a retirement community. It’s getting tough to pay my taxes and other bills and the cost of living has gone sky high. Yet I realize we have to have a police department.”
Several residents said they chose to come to Ashland because it’s a small, safe community with a police force. Others said they believed drug crime has decreased during Chief Michael Montpetit’s tenure.
“We have worked with the Ashland Police Department and our crime has gone down tremendously,” said Brenda Clark of nearby Garfield, which contracts with Ashland for police services. “Crime has calmed down. Elderly people feel safer. That’s what we need. If we give up our police department, we’re going to be one hurting unit.”
Town Council Chair Sherri Calhoun served as moderator. Town Manager Alicia Burby and Ashland Councilors Tyler Michaud, Kevin Robinson, Sharon Everett and Tom Raymond formed a panel to address questions, which also included Maine State Police Lt. Brian Harris, Aroostook County Sheriff Peter Johnson and Montpetit.
Ashland can’t afford its department amid declining population and industry, one man said. A Maine Warden Service office is nearby and they have “just as much power as other law enforcement,” he said.
Several residents asked how the Ashland department is staffed and wondered if cutting the department’s budget or hours would enable the town to keep its force.
“Where does the 168-hour mandate come from?” Clark Rafford asked. “If we can do 150 hours, can we still operate within providing services for the town?”
The department must be staffed full-time, 168 hours a week, Montpetit said. Otherwise, there would be gaps in coverage.
The operation includes Montpetit, two full-time and five reserve officers. Officers work 36 hours on and 36 off with rest breaks, a model adopted after studying how other rural downs in southern Maine operate, the chief said.
One woman asked if deputies and state police would fill in should Ashland’s police work fewer hours.
That’s not how it works, Harris said. Deputies and state police each cover three of Aroostook County’s six zones for a month, and then alternate. They only cover towns who don’t operate their own police departments.
He and Johnson said they’d never tell a town to disband its police department. Response times for both agencies average about 30 minutes but depend on numerous factors, they said.
Both forces are understaffed and can’t give the attention a local police department can, including checking on elderly residents or being present at schools, Harris said.
“That’s the things you’re going to lose. You’re not going to be able to call Mike at 11 p.m.,” he said. “Nothing against us, it’s just that we are spread thin.”
Raymond Saucier worked for 28 years in Ashland law enforcement and he can’t see the town without police, he said, noting that some years before, amid talk of dissolving the department, a rash of thefts ensued.
Tom Wood asked if, should the town vote to keep the department, the council would be willing to create a steering committee to examine other ways to cut the budget. Councilors said they would consider such a committee.
The council sees the benefits of having a police department and recognizes dissolving it would likely have a negative impact on the community, Calhoun said.
“This is a question about taxes and sustainability of services as our population decreases,” she said. “Can your household sustain your tax bil as it is, or do we have to make, as one business person put it, the hard decision to cut service?”
Residents will vote at 7 p.m. Thursday, also at the recreation center.
The question is “to see if the town will vote to continue operating a municipal police department effective Jan. 1, 2027,” Burby said.
At most town meetings people typically vote by hand or verbally, Calhoun said. Because several residents had expressed preference to vote Thursday by paper ballot, the council would entertain a motion to do so, she said.