JAY – The Selectboard unanimously approved signing a contract with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Monday evening, opening up an agency-funded position for a local police officer.
Under the terms of the agreement, local officers would apply for the position with a MDEA task force and be trained as a drug enforcement agent working out of Jay. The town would pay the agent’s salary and be reimbursed in full every month, with the state agency also providing transportation.
The transferring of an officer to the MDEA task force would open up a position on the Jay Police Department, which would be filled by the town. If the MDEA task force position were to end, that new officer’s position would be vacated and filled by the returning MDEA-trained officer.
Both selectpersons and Chief Richard Caton IV said that the task force position benefited both the participating officer and the town. The officer received valuable training in drug-related crimes and policing, Caton said, while freeing up resources to employ a new officer in the department.
The board also reviewed another public safety issue, relating to the Livermore Falls Fire Department. That department had recently learned from its insurance provider that it would no longer be able to store its trucks in the fire hall. The Livermore Falls department is looking for places to store the equipment, and Jay currently has three open truck bays, two at the #2 Station and one at the North Jay Station.
Town officials noted that they hadn’t gotten a chance to look into potential costs associated with hosting LFFD equipment as the request had just come in. Livermore Falls was seeking other options in the surrounding area as well.
The board will consider the idea in greater detail in the coming weeks. Livermore Falls must vacate their fire hall bays by Oct. 1.
It is time for Livermore Falls to build a new station in our own town for our trucks. With the equipment in Jay it will take longer to respond to fires and could cause more loss of lives and sturctures.
Imagine the response time for additional apparatus from North Jay to Pikes Corner…yikes. It would make more sense to give LFD temp use of station 2 and have their rigs respond to all LF and Chisholm calls.
Perhaps if we are to share vehicle housing (and in all probability, services themselves) it would make sense to explore a multi-bay public safety building in a more central location… for example, the Otis Mill (though the train tracks create a problem).
Great, more money wasted on staffing the DEA. Does anyone really believe the War on Drugs hasn’t been a complete failure? Why are we still pouring tax dollars into these positions?
Just call for mutual aid, Farmington will gladly put out your fires.
Jay residents do not need to have a combination public safety building combined with Livermore Falls. Taxpayers would end up paying for the largest portion of the cost for both towns as we do with the school budget. Liv Falls residents need to pay for their own fire department building. I realize this issue keeps coming up but our tax money is not the answer to their needs.