PHILLIPSTON – Police Chief Kevin Dodge recently announced his intention to retire from a post he has held for more than a decade, and the Selectboard is reviewing the options for hiring his successor.

The chief’s current salary is just under $85,000 and during Wednesday night’s board meeting, Finance Committee Chair Tom Specht suggested that the position be made part-time. Faced with a $175,000 Proposition 2 ½ override to fund municipal government and Phillipston’s portion of the regional school district, local officials are looking for ways to save money.

“We’ve had a part-time police chief in the past and it worked really well,” said Specht. “Having a part-time police chief’s position would save the town half the pay and half of whatever else goes along with that. Part-time worked tremendously well for us before.”

Phillipston resident Don Smith took issue with Specht’s suggestion, saying that times have changed and there was more responsibility than before for those who head the town’s departments.

“They have to take responsibility for what happens to their people,” he said. “All of the liability lands on the town and that individual.”

“The chief of police is responsible criminally, financially and all the way around,” said Public Works Director Rick Tenney. “If we think we’re going to save $45,000, I don’t think you’re going to find someone who wants to take that responsibility for $45,000. Before any decision on this, I really think it should be done with input from Chief Dodge.”

Brian Rosengren, who is a police officer in another community, said that the Police Officer Standards & Training (POST) standards includes a lot of regulations that police departments must abide by.

“A part-time police chief is going to end up working full-time to make sure all of those standards and all of those requirements are met,” he said.

Selectboard Chair Bernie Malouin wondered whether the town’s fire chief, who is part-time, isn’t burdened with a workload similar to that of the police chief.

“I think the police chief and the fire chief have two different sets of standards, from what I understand,” said Tenney. “The fire department doesn’t have POST standards, whereas police departments do.”

Malouin noted that both he and Selectboard member Gerhard Fandreyer had spoken individually with Dodge regarding a replacement.

“We know his views, his intentions, what he wants,” Malouin said. “I put this on the agenda because I’d like to get the position filled, to start taking some applications and interviewing people. With the ballot question vote coming up, I’m wondering if we should hold off a little bit and see how the (vote) turns out.”

Malouin also suggested the idea of appointing an interim chief. Several other ideas were briefly reviewed before the Selectboard decided to take more time to explore potential options and, in the meantime, ask Dodge to attend the next meeting to discuss his views on how best to proceed with both filling and funding the chief’s position.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com