GOULDSBORO, Maine — Voters in Gouldsboro will once again decide whether the town should continue with its own police department or contract services with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
In early May, Police Chief John Shively resigned from the position and the Gouldsboro select board decided to ask voters what they wanted to do about law enforcement services.
The town previously asked voters a similar question in 2019 when they were asked if they wanted to disband the police department altogether. That was voted down rather decisively by voters 395 to 169. But this time there are more options.
“The three options, which aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, include keeping the PD budget and keeping the police department, having the ability with or without a police department to contract with Hancock County,” said Gouldsboro Town Manager Andrea Sirois. “ And a third option being disbanding with minimal cost and not having a police department with or without a contract with Hancock County.”
Sirois said the proposed police department budget for the next physical year is $273,037.
Birch Harbor resident Bill Thomas said, “We need to keep a local presence. I think the issue is more of how do we manage our local police department, who do we hire that’s going to be able to manage this appropriately for this local town. I think that’s been the issue in the past.”
Sirois said if the town votes to disband the police and does not have a contract with the sheriff’s department, the town would be covered on an emergency basis only by the state police and the sheriff's office. She said the town is currently advertising for the police chief position.
“Management in the past has maybe not been what we expected it to be or what they expected it to be,” Thomas said. “But I think it goes back to who is hiring this new person and what are they looking for. And we need to look for the right person basically.”
Sirois said the town does not yet know how much it would cost to contract with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department but hopes to have more information for people at Town Meeting which will be held on June 9.
"I hope to," she said. "But there is a lot of work between both agencies that are required in order to get accurate numbers and it may not be possible within a short time period."