Winslow council repeals public safety department

by Jonathan Strieff

In a first reading of the ordinance at the January 13, Winslow town council meeting, council members voted 4-3 to repeal the Winslow Public Safety Department adopted on November 21, 2022, and reinstate the previously separated Police Department and Fire and Rescue Department.

The ordinance, sponsored by the newly-appointed Council Chairman, Fran Hudson, seeks to address staffing shortages, high rates of overtime pay, and the lack of cross training of officers promised by transitioning to the public safety model adopted in 2022.

“Since adopting the Public Safety Department, Winslow has lost six police officers and eight firefighters,” Hudson cited for pursuing the restructuring. “If I were a new graduate from the police academy or the firefighters academy, I would be looking for a job at a Police or Fire Department, not a Public Safety Department.”

Hudson also referenced other Maine municipalities like Gardiner and Old Town that transitioned to Public Safety Departments only to revert back to more traditional models after a few years.

Council members in favor of preserving the Public Safety Department, like Second District Council Member Dale Macklin and Councilor-at-Large Jeffery West, noted that overtime pay was on pace with what the council had budgeted for the fiscal year and that personnel disputes, common when the Police and Fire Departments had been managed separately, seemed to have disappeared since adopting the unified Public Safety Department’.

Public Safety Director, Leonard McDaid, and Deputy Fire Chief, Michael Murphy, both spoke favorable about the operations of the Public Safety Department, but both acknowledged that they, “serve at the will of the council,” and will run organize the departments accordingly.

The council also heard a presentation from Winslow Town Sexton, Jason Fitch, about the potential to expand McClintock Cemetery. Fitch shared that an abutting landowner has offered to sell the town up to two acres of land for new burial and cremation plots, but the Sexton needed to receive council approval to even sit down to negotiations with him. Fitch estimated the additional land would meet the towns needs for 10 years of burials and pointed out that there is currently no inventory available for burial or cremation plots in Winslow.

At the council meeting, Deputy Fire Chief Murphy also awarded Captain Adam Burgess with the award of Firefighter of the Year for 2024 and recognized retiring firefighter Paul DuCett for 28 years of service.