By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

HARRISON — When the town pays $124,000 for law enforcement, Rick Sykes believes Harrison should get its money’s worth.

With Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce, along with Captain Scott Stewart and new local deputy Andy Ward, in the room, Selectman Sykes aired his concerns and expectations at last week’s board meeting.

“I’ve had some concerns about the services provided by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. It’s our responsibility to make sure that investment is a good one. Deputies get few calls for service here. We have some serious drug issues. We have a 40-hour work week, four days, 10 hours. I personally believe increased law enforcement contact with the public will lower the crime rate,” he said. “Traffic stops. We have a speeding problem. I’ve complained and called the Sheriff’s Office. I have some high expectations for the type of law enforcement activities we are going to get.”

Looking at the recent history between the Town of Harrison and CCSO, Sykes found bad news, good news, bad news, more bad news and some good news.

The bad news: Prior to Deputy Dan Hastings coming on board, “we had a deputy here…I will only say we didn’t get our money’s worth,” Sykes said.

Good news: “We got Deputy Hastings. Quite frankly, he set a standard. You can track offenses. He lived up to my expectations for service provided,” he noted.

Bad news: Deputy Hastings resigned. “We lost a quality guy,” Sykes continued.

More bad news: “For the four to five weeks we had an interim deputy, it was disappointing. In one week, the deputies assigned here, there was one traffic stop. That’s in 40 hours. Five calls for service. On eight days, I found no traffic stops, very few calls for service. It begs the question, what are they doing here? I don’t have an answer for that. In all fairness, you have a couple of deputies, wow, they did the job. You had one guy in two days that had 32 traffic stops. Send him up here more often. Those two days, in my opinion, met expectations,” Sykes said.

The good news: “We have Deputy (Andrew) Ward. In four days, 31 traffic stops. I just think, so far, Deputy Ward is living up to my expectations, for sure.”

Sykes concluded his comments saying selectmen should review CCSO reports on a regular basis.

“It is our responsibility that the investment of $124,000 for law enforcement services is well-spent,” he noted.

One immediate gain from a conversation between the sheriff and Town Manager Tim Pellerin was agreement on “variable times,” rather than a set deputy patrol schedule.

“If you think you know the deputy is on duty, be careful,” Sykes added.

Board Chairman Matthew Frank chimed in, “We appreciate that you worked with Tim to address the contract. So far, we are pleased with Andy, who has been with us two or three weeks now, and he has aggressively dealing with issues in town. The most important priorities for us, at least in my opinion, are dealing with cars on the road. We have far too much speeding in this town. They speed everywhere. It’s important to communicate with the community. Visit all of our stores, it doesn’t take long…Meet the people. Deal with the drug problems. This town, like every other town in this country, has drug problems. It is important he knows where they are, who is involved, and be ever vigilant.”

Frank noted that one day when he was driving near Harrison Elementary School and saw safety lights flashing, he saw that the deputy had pulled a motorist over.

Pellerin also thanked Sheriff Joyce for a candid, 2½ hour meeting which gave the two leaders a chance to “clear the air” following the abrupt resignation of Deputy Dan Hastings.

“The sheriff clearly understood the gravity of our situation, and the requirements of what we were looking for. I understood the points by him regarding our limitations based on the contract. I appreciate him willing to work with us, and more importantly, I am equally excited to have Andy. I know Andy personally, over 20 years, and I’m thrilled to have him here. He will carry on Dan’s (Hastings) legacy. If we have a problem or issue, it’s a simple phone call to Andy. So far, he’s been in touch with me every day he is on duty. I am pleased with that,” Pellerin said. “We need to stay actively involved, review the records and be sure we are getting services we expect. In all honesty, the responsibility in the end — Dan did bring the bar up — but shame on us for not looking deeper. The sheriff made it very clear in our meeting to hold his feet to the fire — if we don’t think they are doing their job, reach out to the captain or sheriff or deputy. I think Andy will do a good job.”

Sheriff Joyce agreed with Sykes that his department should be held accountable. The sheriff refused to sidestep any question or concern selectmen had, including the Hastings resignation.

“I want to address the elephant in the room as much as I possibly can,” he said. “All kinds of kudos about the deputy that was here before…Hastings did a good job. What you don’t know is what happened outside. I can’t talk about it other than saying this. I won’t tolerate it, nor will the profession tolerate what occurred. Captain Stewart, who is in charge of the contracts, did attempt to reach out the day after the resignation was given. Of course, the rumor mill started. The rumor mill got to Tim before Captain Stewart attempted to. He did attempt to do it. I stand behind the decision. It was a tough decision. Any time you do that, you can’t prolong it. I couldn’t prolong this until I got somebody in here.”

Sheriff Joyce learned from the town manager that the deputy covering Harrison before Deputy Hastings “did a terrible job.”

“I didn’t know about it. My phone did not ring. Nobody made me aware. I was appalled at some of the stuff I heard. If you have a problem, call me. I cannot fix something I don’t know what’s going on,” the sheriff said. “We have resolved some things. I did screw up a weekend after this personnel change. We had a serious incident. I got a call from the chief deputy, who had received a call from the deputy here. I did not say to call Tim and brief him. We are diligent letting the town manager know what is going on in town if there is a big event. I never gave it a thought until it was brought to my attention. I totally dropped the ball. I own that. It won’t happen again.”

Sheriff Joyce pointed out that town managers deal with things differently.

“Some want to know, others really don’t care. From now on, we’re going to tell everyone and let them decide if they want to listen or not. That has been fixed,” said Sheriff Joyce, noting that he and Pellerin had exchanged phone numbers to be sure communication can be had at all hours.

Sheriff Joyce also backed up Pellerin’s view of newly-assigned Deputy Ward. The sheriff called Deputy Ward, “impressive.”

“He looks 26, but has been with various fire departments for 26 years, with various dispatch agencies for 24 years, and he’s worked for Fryeburg and Saco police departments. He really wanted to work for the Sheriff’s Department, and we were lucky to get him,” the sheriff said.

The sheriff also understood selectmen’s desire for officers to reach out and get to know the community they serve. He too plans to meet the people through the popular Coffee with a Cop.

“I have five of the 15 towns that we patrol I haven’t been to. Harrison is one of them. So, in the next couple of months, one of the stores, we’ll be hanging out in the morning from 7:30 or 8 o’clock until 10 just talking to people. What comes out of these are things they aren’t going to call police for, like there’s drug dealing in my neighborhood but I’m not sure; the dogs are barking in my neighborhood; my neighbor is having a hard time getting oxygen; we do get questions that aren’t law enforcement, but we do try to help them out,” he said.

In closing, Sheriff Joyce reiterated, “I own the fact we’ve slipped a little bit, but I empower you to call and let me know. I can’t fix it if I find out months afterwards.”

In other selectmen business:

Refurbish, best route to go. Fire Chief Dana Laplante would like to see his department get “full use” out of Tanker 2, but in its current state, the vehicle is somewhat limited. That will soon change.

Selectmen backed a proposal to spend up to $8,000 to retrofit Tank 2. The refurbishing will include “lifting” the bed to increase road clearance (thus avoiding “bottoming out on some town roads,” Laplante said), as well as storage compartment rearrangement. Laplante said the vehicle will be the town’s forestry truck, equipped with tools to fight forest fires. The tanker will be off the road for about a month. Work will be done by Lake Region Fire Apparatus. With these changes, the truck should serve the town for another five to 10 years, the chief estimated.

The town recently sold Tanker 6 for $24,500, and those funds will be used to purchase equipment for the new truck; selectmen awarded the bid to replace overhead doors at the fire station to Robert’s Overhead Door for $17,900. Overhead Doors submitted a bid of $21,000.

Busy days at the transfer station. Almost 3,000 visits were made to the transfer station with Harrison sending 46,100 pounds of recyclables to ecomaine in August (contamination rate of 2% or less).

Wonder what ecomaine is? The disposal facility will be holding a public open house on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 8 a.m. to noon. Free breakfast and tours offered, along with recycle bins (limited supply).

Paving. The final coat on Maple Ridge will be done this fall. Pellerin reported that ditching on Cape Monday is done for the season, while prep work at the town office parking lot was completed in anticipation of repaving. The Crystal Lake parking lot was filled and graded. When October arrives, the town crew will start hauling sand.

Music in the air, next summer. RADR is known as an excellent sports complex, but it will also become the perfect amphitheater for music next August.

Selectmen approved a proposal for a Songwriters Festival on Aug. 15, 2020. The lineup will include Steve Azar, Deana Carter and Nashville’s “hottest songwriters” performing their own songs.

There is no cost to the town. Vendors and concertgoers will pay fees, while the concert promotor pays all costs associated with the event (such as lighting, security, advertising and port-a-potties), and will give 20 percent of ticket sales to the Town of Harrison to be used to fund scholarships, rec programs and improve/maintain the RADR complex. Organizers will look to make it an annual event.

Gates open at 11 a.m. with music beginning at noon to 8:30 p.m. Fireworks will follow after the show.

New health officer is Catherine Pinkham of Bridgton. Recently, she was a member of the Bridgton Planning Board.