LEYDEN — In the first steps to determine the future of policing in Leyden, the recently convened Public Safety Advisory Committee voted Wednesday to present an early draft of an interim policing agreement with Bernardston to the Selectboard.
The committee, which met virtually, was joined by Leyden and Bernardston Town Counsel Donna MacNicol as it crafted a draft agreement that will ensure police coverage in Leyden while long-term plans are formulated. MacNicol helped negotiate the inter-municipal policing agreement between Leverett and Wendell.
“It’s a very standard, very simple agreement,” MacNicol said. “This is something saying, ‘We’ll pay you for police servicing in Leyden while we figure out what to do.’”
The Public Safety Advisory Committee was convened in early December and charged with “the task of reviewing the public safety needs of Leyden,” according to the town website. Discussions on the state of policing in town follow the sudden retirement of longtime Police Chief Dan Galvis in October, not long after racist, misogynistic and xenophobic content from emails he shared with other town employees and officers between 2015 and 2016 surfaced. Since then, Lt. Mike Aiken has served as officer-in-charge.
The interim agreement is based off the same one Leverett and Wendell used until the two towns were able to work out a long-term plan for shared policing services.
Public Safety Advisory Committee Chair Elizabeth Kidder, speaking by phone Thursday, said the interim agreement presented at Wednesday’s meeting is an “initial working document for the two towns” and no details are set in stone as both towns may make changes to it.
The draft agreement states “Bernardston shall provide patrol services within the geographical boundaries of Leyden.” Leyden’s police office would become a substation under the agreement, and a committee would be appointed by both town moderators to meet biweekly to discuss the effectiveness of the agreement and any problems encountered.
The agreement also states “Leyden will no longer employ any of the remaining members of the Leyden Police Department,” but those officers would be invited to “apply to become a member of the Bernardston Police Department and an employee of Bernardston.”
“The purpose of the interim agreement would be to get Leyden some policing services,” MacNicol said.
Any financial terms for the agreement are unknown at this time because the draft will need to be presented to the Leyden Selectboard before being brought to Bernardston’s Selectboard.
“It makes a lot of sense to get in with the interim” agreement, MacNicol said. “The interim is going to let you know if it’s going to work or not.”
Public Safety Advisory Committee members agreed the interim agreement would be the best option to ensure police coverage in Leyden while other options are considered.
“This is a no-brainer,” commented Emily Yazwinski. “This is our best bet for this intermediate time. … It will give us time to work with Bernardston and see what we can come up with.”
Kidder told the Greenfield Recorder the drafted agreement would last until a long-term plan is implemented.
“Some towns have taken two years,” Kidder said by phone, “but we hope it wouldn’t take that long.”
While the interim agreement will cover Leyden for several months, the Public Safety Advisory Committee is mulling long-term coverage options for other emergency services in town.
With policing potentially covered by Bernardston, the focus shifted to regionalization of the other emergency services in town.
Members voted to recommend the town, Selectboard and Public Safety Advisory Committee pursue state grants to hire consultants from the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management to assist with regionalization strategies.
Kidder said the committee will be exploring “what services would be available” from the staff at the Collins Center.
“Regionalization has been a huge push by the state,” MacNicol said. “Particularly for our smaller towns to make them more financially viable.”
MacNicol added that Leyden can have the interim policing agreement with Bernardston and apply for the grant at the same time with no issues.
The committee signaled its intention to ask Bernardston to join in on the grant application, but Leyden will pursue the money on its own if its neighbor won’t. However, Kidder said a solo application would not be ideal.
“We’re basically faced with the fact that the state agencies prefer funding multi-town grants,” Kidder said during the meeting.
The committee also voted to seek assistance from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) for help with regionalization.
The Public Safety Advisory Committee meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Kidder said the committee is unsure if meetings will be in person or remote, but she encourages the community to come and help find a solution. Public input can also be sent by email to publicsafety@townofleyden.com.
“We’re just at the very beginning of a long-term process and long-range planning,” Kidder said. “We’re going to be looking for input from everybody in the community.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.