GILL — Sgt. Chris Redmond has been appointed as acting chief of the Gill Police Department after two back-to-back executive sessions on Monday night’s Selectboard meeting.
Redmond was appointed by the board during an emergency executive session to address the sudden retirement of former police Chief David Hastings.
Hastings retired on Friday, Sept. 15, the same day a protective order filed in Greenfield District court by his son was extended for a year. Under the protection order, Hastings had to surrender his firearms and gun license.
Hastings’ last day of employment was Sept. 14, because he submitted his retirement Sept. 15, according to the Selectboard.
Redmond has been with the Gill Department for 25 years and in local law enforcement for 29 years. He is originally from South Deerfield and has been one of the two full-time officers in Gill since the 1990s.
He said on Monday that he plans to apply for the permanent chief position when it becomes available.
He thanked Hastings for his years of service and also thanked the part-time officers in the department who have stepped up to cover shifts while the department had one less full-time officer.
Redmond has been in charge of the department since Sept. 1, when Selectboard Chairman Randy Crochier put Hastings on non-punitive administrative leave. The Selectboard then met in executive session Sept. 7 to discuss the matter further.
Crochier said they were notified in the late afternoon of Sept. 1, and could not convene an executive session, because they had to give Hastings 48-hour notice. They weren’t able to post until Tuesday, Sept. 5, because of Labor Day, so the executive session was held on Sept. 7.
“Because this dealt with a person, you had to give them the notice, and you can’t waive that,” he said.
When asked why the matter wasn’t disclosed to the public, he said that they did not try to hide the matter, and that when asked by members of the public, they were open about it.
“It wasn’t hidden,” Crochier said. “We don’t notify the public when he’s on vacation.”
Crochier said on Monday that the acting chief appointment was not set on a timeline, but they plan to discuss the issue at upcoming meetings.
Sept. 1 was the initial hearing on the Abuse Prevention Order, which was filed by Hastings’ son.
The court order prevented Hastings from coming within 50 yards of his son, or sending him mail or communications outside of court documents. It ordered Hastings to stay away from his residence and school and surrender any firearms as well.
It wasn’t clear what the first, planned executive session dealt with on Monday, considering Hastings’ retirement prompted the second and he was no longer on leave.
Hastings was not in attendance at Monday night’s meeting. He previously told the Recorder he did not plan to attend because of his retirement.
Reach Miranda Davis at
413-772-0261, ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.