By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CHARLESTOWN, N.H. — The Charlestown Selectboard had a vacancy after the resignation of former Chair Jeremy Wood, and on Wednesday night the four remaining members unanimously agreed to appoint former Selectman Steve Neill to the board with his term ending March 2025.
“Steve has a number of years on the selectboard and from my understanding you’re interested in running in March,” said Selectman Charles Baraly said, addressing Neill who was in the audience at the Nov. 13 meeting.
Neill was one of two applicants who submitted their application following the resignation of Wood at the Oct. 30 selectboard meeting.
“He submitted a resignation both in writing and in person,” confirmed Executive Assistant Patricia Chaffee. “He resigned at a public meeting.”
The selectmen also heard reports from department heads, including the police, where Chief Patrick Connors addressed issues with their cruisers.
Connors told the board that one of the newer cruisers with only 20,000 miles had a head gasket fail. The department got it back from being repaired, but other problems arose including a coolant leak. After being in the shop three times, the cruiser is back in action, and Connors hope that it will stay that way for a more extended period of time.
The chief, however, said that there is good news and bad news involving their cruisers.
“The fortunate thing about that one is that there’s been a lot of work done to it, but it’s all under warranty,” he said. “The unfortunate thing is that one of our cruisers is down, and that is not under warranty. So, we’ll be putting some work into the older Durango we have, which is up at Dodge right now having a fuel pump put into it. There are all kinds of transmission fluids and stuff like that going on.”
Connors also touched on staffing, saying the department is still short staffed. He had a conversation with a candidate from Washington who is “on board and ready to go,” and passed all the tests. Connors said the officer is working out logistics of moving across the country, and is also expecting a baby, so he is looking at February as a potential start date.
“We’re also looking at four other candidates right now,” Connors said. “We just haven’t had anyone pass the tests yet.”
Connors also discussed dispatch staffing, saying that currently they have four full-timers. For a 24-hour dispatch center it takes 4.2 full-time positions to cover the schedule. He said they are fortunate to have a part-time staff, but if a dispatcher is out, there is a lot of overtime being spent.
“There’s a lot of burnout happening,” Connors said. “We could be facing some retirements coming up, so we’ve got to prepare for that. One of the things I’d like to do is bring on another full-time dispatcher, entry level dispatcher. I’d like to add that into the budget.”
