ATHOL – About two dozen people attended the public information meeting held Wednesday night by the Royalston Policing Committee. The panel was formed earlier this year to study what steps need to be taken to provide the kind of police coverage the town’s residents need and deserve.

Committee members Joe Liebman and Steven Egan, who served as chair, provided attendees with the group’s final report. The report includes a look at the current state of the Police Department and concludes with the committee’s unanimous recommendation that Royalston voters approve a Proposition 2½ override of $173,000 to fund the addition of a full-time chief and one full-time officer.

Egan explained that the nine-member committee, made up of a cross-section of Royalston residents, met 15 times over the late winter and early spring and reviewed Winchendon Police Dispatch data for the years 2021 to 2024, examined patrol logs from Royalston officers from 2024, and considered results of a police survey— completed by 140 respondents — which provided “general understanding and opinions” regarding the Police Department. The committee also received input from part-time Police Chief Curtis Deveneau and Athol Officer Todd Neale.

Committee members began their work with a wide range of opinions regarding the department, said Egan. In the end, however, the panel voted unanimously to recommend the hiring of a full-time chief, who would do patrols in addition to administrative work, and one full-time officer.

Liebman explained that a wholly part-time department is not sustainable heading into the future. The Police Reform Act passed by the state Legislature in 2020 requires part-timers to undergo the same amount of training as full-time officers, including attendance at a full-time five-month academy. Prior to 2020, said Liebman, Royalston had 18 part-time patrol officers serving the community. That number has decreased to seven, in part because part-timers generally have full-time jobs outside the department and are unable to commit to the rigorous training schedule.

Liebman said that Chief Deveneau, due to the part-time nature of his position, does no patrolling during the week. One part-timer is limited to two patrols a month, another works only weekends, and the rest patrol on weekends and weekdays when they’re not needed at their full-time jobs. Patrolman Josh LaMarche is the only officer working Monday through Friday. Twenty percent of all patrol shifts thus far this year have gone unfilled, meaning the town was either served by the State Police or was left uncovered.

Liebman then displayed a graphic showing the disparity in police budgets between other local small towns and Royalston, all with similar population numbers. While Royalston currently has an annual FY25 budget of $163,000, which includes $33,000 for expenses, along with seven part-time employees, Phillipston provides $358,000 to cover the wages of four full-time and three part-time officers and an expense account of $100,000, for a total budget of $458,000. Petersham budgets $248,000 for two full-timers, eight part-timers, and a reserve officer. An expense account of $57,000 brings the total yearly budget to $305,000.

The committee also look at property tax rates in the three communities. Royalston has a rate of $9.47 per $1,000 of property valuation, Phillipston’s rate is $12.84/$1,000, and Petersham’s rate is $15.79/$1,000. Passage of the recommended override would add about 78 cents per $1,000 to the tax rate, or $78.59 per $100,000. The average home worth $300,000 would pay about $275 per year in additional taxes, said Liebman.

Liebman said that the best-case scenario for the town, if the override fails, “We gamble and in about another year, we have even less policing than we have now. We could end up in a situation where we don’t have any police during the week, we don’t have police on the weekends, we have increasingly lengthy response times to 911; we have no community policing.”

Early in the evening Liebman pointed out that the State Police currently respond to calls during the overnight hours, but the town was told a couple of years ago that that service will soon be coming to an end.

“These are all very real things,” said Liebman. “The risk we face is very real if we maintain the budget is a third of everyone else’s.”

Last year, a proposed Proposition 2½ override which would have provided just over $75,000 for one full-time officer was approved at the annual Town Meeting, but was defeated on a tie vote of 111-111 at the subsequent special election.

Liebman said the Policing Committee plans to hold a public meeting via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 5. Zoom information will be available at RoyalstonPolice.com.