CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Select Board last week voted to eliminate the post of harbormaster and turn the boat over the Fire Department at the request of both the police and fire chiefs.

 

Interim Police Chief Tim Garner gave the board a history of the post and how it came to fall under the Police Department.

 

"The vote was received by the Police Department as part of our grant. I think it was in development in 2009, maybe as part of community policing-type grant that we got, and it was specifically designated for fire and police, and decided on a patrol and rescue," he said. "So basically, if something happened on the lake, we'd be able to have a boat that would get access to go out and do what we got to do."

 

He said the first harbormaster would patrol Hoosac Lake only to educate and advise as they were not allowed to enforce laws.

 

"He would go out on the lake periodically and not enforcing, because it's not our lake, he would go and do PR work and just advise people about life jackets or give them a safe boating book or something like that. Just basically PR work," he said.

 

Select Board member Michelle Francesconi said this was because it could lead to trouble if they were attempted to enforce rules.

 

"I think one of the issues that we were running into, even with the harbormaster position, and I can remember with the vote in general, was the perception that it was an enforcement vote, and it would put somebody in a precarious situation, or could potentially put the harbor master in a bad situation, just if they were perceived as a law enforcement officer, because you don't know what you're going to come up on, either be drunks or drugs, or any other crimes on the water, too," she said.