Cheshire Selectmen Officially Form Police Chief Hiring Committee
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Cheshire Board of Selectmen voted on Tuesday to officially form the Police Chief Hiring Committee.
The five-member committee will work to replace current Police Chief Timothy Garner, who plans to retire later this year. The five members appointed by the Board of Selectmen are Val Tyska, Linda Chittenden, Robert Mallett, Gary Herzog and Scott McWhirt.
A call for committee members was posted on the town website last month and several residents responded. Board members were pleasantly surprised how many were interested in joining.
"First, when we discussed that, I didn't think we were going to get anybody interested. I was surprised we got so many interested people," said board member Raymond Killeen.
Board Chair Michelle Francesconi said she would prefer the committee members not to be connected to the current Police Department to avoid bias.
"My thought going into this was it should be people who are knowledgeable about law enforcement, but are also not biased or not are not connected necessarily connected to the Cheshire Police Department," she said.
In other business, Highway Superintendent Robert Navin gave the board an update on general highway maintenance and said been few significant issues have come up so far this year.
"So far this year, the mud season was very minimal compared to years past, which is good. But that can change," Navin said.
Navin said there was leftover money this year, which the department used to fill the salt shed for next year. Department vehicles, according to Navin, are in good shape.
"All the trucks are up and running still. I have no major repairs ahead of me," he said.
The board approved a revision to the town's purchasing policy. The revision makes any purchase over $1,000 require a purchase order.
The board approved the new job position of harbormaster. The board also approved the borrowing note for a highway grader. The purchase for up to $195,000 was approved at a special town meeting in 2019 and ratified by ballot vote as a debt exclusion in January 2020.
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