DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board voted last week to change the administrative services of the town's police detail fund to the police chief during its meeting on Monday night. 

 

With this management change, the department is authorized to manage the fund based on the specific circumstances surrounding the amount.

 

When the fund is substantially drained, the payment schedule for officers who work details is unpredictable, Police Chief Deanna Strout said during a follow-up conversation. 

 

The fund is paid up to $25,000 but is drained when a large number of details happen. It stays drained until it is replenished by payments from the private entities that hire the details.

 

Payments for officers who work police detail are usually processed within the regular pay period. However, if the police detail fund is significantly depleted, payments have been delayed. The fund had a balance of $36.60 at the time of last Monday's meeting.  

 

Not paying officers on the pay period that they worked causes moral and retention issues, the department's Executive Assistant Rebecca Whitaker said. 

 

"One of the issues Strout is worried about is all the other departments are paying their detail officers as they work the details," Whitaker said. 

 

"Our guys all know this. Our guys are gonna leave Dalton because they're not getting paid and then we're done being short staffed to the [police department] again. That's one of our biggest concerns."

 

The payment for working as a police detail is in addition to their wages as public officers, Town Accountant Sandra J. Albano said. 

 

After reviewing information from the state Department of Revenue and the town auditor, the town can either add money into an existing account or shift responsibility of the fund to the Police Department, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said. 

 

"Any seed money in a more generic account would also trigger the Mass General Law Chapter 44 Section 31 which prohibits deficit spending and that is still the case, however, we are all aware that many other towns engage in this practice," Hutcheson said. 

 

By transferring responsibility from the accountant to the Police Department, the department would be accountable for overseeing and reconciling the account with the collector, he said.

 

They would also be responsible for ensuring that any deficit is resolved within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year, which falls on Sept. 30.

 

If the account is not made whole then the penalty is the amount of the deficit removed from the following year's free cash. If the deficit is consistent year after year there is a possibility the town would have to raise the deficit on its tax recap, Hutcheson said. 

 

"It can't be considered a best practice as it introduces a greater possibility of a deficit and in turn the possibility of it not being funded in time but it is a less restrictive practice. Again the other alternative is to add money to the account," Hutcheson said.

 

To avoid the account going into a deficit, there will be a special town meeting the second week in January with a warrant article requesting voters approve adding funds to the account. 

 

Although Strout was unable to attend Monday's meeting, she did attend the Select Board meeting on Oct. 23 to advocate for her staff to ensure they get paid on time. Her statements were echoed by Whitaker during Monday's meeting. 

 

"I communicated with Hinsdale, North Adams, Beckett, Otis, Lenox, Lee, Lanesborough, Adams Williamstown, North Adams, Stockbridge, and Great Barrington, all of those departments deficit these accounts, it's a revolving account that can run in the deficit," Strout said during the Oct. 23 meeting. 

 

During both meetings, town officials and department heads were hesitant to authorize deficit spending.

 

There was a motion, made by Marc Strout, on Oct. 23, to instruct the town manager to authorize Albano to spend into the deficit for the police detail account. This motion was shot down. 

 

"We don't need money added to the account. If it makes the town accountant and town manager feel better to have that account funded better that's fine but you can run it in a deficit," Chief Strout said. "Every other department for a full-time department does, except us." 

 

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue informed Lanesborough's police chief and the town manager during an audit that it is illegal to withhold the officers pay, Chief Strout said. 

 

"The Fair Labor Standard Act defines work hours as all the time which an employee is required to be on an employer's premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. Details are not extracurricular activities," Chief Strout said

 

"They are security and public safety events. We are hired to perform as police officers. If we don't have a traffic officer doing the detail that is required, that contractor can't work." 

 

During the meeting on Monday, Town Collector Melissa Davis said she works closely with Whitaker and in the case the department does get a contractor who does not pay their invoice, they stop working for them. 

 

Most contractors are able to pay within 30 to 35 days, local businesses pay even quicker, Davis said.

 

The primary reason for delays in payment is due to external factors that are beyond the town's control, such as the amount of time it takes for mail to arrive.