DIXFIELD – Contention two weeks ago at town meeting over the Police Department bred dissent two days later among selectmen.

The board will discuss police issues again at 2:30 p.m. Monday, June 23, when selectmen meet for a two-hour workshop.

Selectman Montell Kennedy started the argumentative discussion June 9, when he said at the end of the regular selectmen’s meeting, “I think that the public has lost its faith and trust in the Board of Selectmen and that’s a pretty bad feeling.”

Outgoing Selectman Dan Mitchell agreed with Kennedy, shouldering blame for the town’s beef with the board over its March decision to cut the town’s full-time police force from four officers to three.

“The police issue is still a very unhappy issue,” Mitchell said. “That’s where this feeling came from and with me leaving, I think it will go away. I think people feel I instigated it.”

Mitchell was elected to the board March 4 in a special election to fill the remaining four months of a vacant seat created by Selectman Barbara Arsenault’s resignation in January for health reasons.

Then, at the board’s March 11 meeting, Mitchell cast the deciding vote in an impromptu attempt to reduce the police force from four to three full-time officers. Prior to Mitchell’s arrival on the board, a tie-vote on the matter defeated an attempt to reduce the force.

“I think a lot of people bought into it that we went against them in going with a three-man police force, but nobody said a word when we didn’t rehire the Water Department manager. I firmly believe that in a year’s time, the people will be back at the town meeting with a different face on,” Mitchell said.

Selectmen Chairman Hugh Daley, however, bristled about the assertion that the town was upset with the board.

“It’s a false faith that they’ve lost, because we haven’t done a thing to deserve that,” Daley said.

At town meeting, selectmen recommended sticking with the three-person police force as a cost-saving measure. A majority vote, however, sided with the Finance Committee’s recommendation to revert back to a four-person force.

At the June 7 town meeting, Mitchell said there was no demonstrated need for a four-person force in Dixfield. Selectman Eugene Skibitsky agreed, explaining why he voted in March to trim the force to three full-time officers.

“We can’t get a fourth officer,” he said. “I voted to eliminate the position because I couldn’t honestly see where it would be jeopardizing the public and I wanted to save (the town) money. If I see that this town doesn’t have to spend money that was appropriated, I’m not going to. Dixfield is a safe town. We don’t have bars, we just have kids coming through creating problems.”

Kennedy, however, quickly disagreed, clarifying Skibitsky’s statement on bars.

“Rumford and Mexico have several bars and people have to travel back and forth through Dixfield to get there. We have the (resulting) operating under the influences here,” he said.

Resident Heath McDonald then chastised both Skibitsky and Mitchell, citing a pro-active Police Department as the reason why police call records showed relatively few incidents between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.

“The Police Department is being pro-active and if they’ve achieved it, you don’t want to screw it up,” McDonald said. “Apparently, something’s working and we shouldn’t fix it anymore.”

Selectmen will attempt to “fix it” at their June 23 workshop in an attempt to satisfy the will of the town meeting vote. Among the topics are the creation of a work schedule for a four-person force, pay rates and steps needed to find and hire a fourth officer.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com