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03/20/2024
We don't usually post real news, but this one was too good to pass up!
(STORY from March 13 Machias Selectboard meeting, that was slated to run in the March 20 MVNO)
Rookie Officer Angers Town Officials with March 30 Resignation from MPD to Join Sheriff's Dept - Jumping Ship Just 3 Months After Academy Graduation
By Paul Sylvain
Taylor LeBlanc has not only effectively burned his bridges with the Machias Police Department, but also ignited a firestorm by angering the Machias selectboard and Town Manager Bill Kitchen at the board's March 13 meeting.
LeBlanc, who was hired by the MPD in June 2023, graduated after completing an 18-week full-time law enforcement officer training program at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy on Dec. 14. He began working shifts as a full-time officer shortly before New Years.
Barely three months later, LeBlanc is unexpectedly resigning from the MPD, effective March 30. His letter of resignation, submitted to Chief Keith Mercier on March 6, did not sit well with Kitchen and the selectboard.
LeBlanc was ordered to appear before Kitchen and the selectboard at last week’s meeting to explain his resignation in person. If they were expecting answers, they didn't get any.
“Taylor tendered his resignation last week,” Mercier said to begin the discussion. "His last day is March 30."
“Can I ask why you're going,” Selectboard member Sandra Sinford asked LeBlanc, who was on duty and in uniform. The officer replied simply, “I spoke to my union, um, I'd like to remain silent.”
“He's going to the sheriff's department,” Mercier interjected. “I don't think it's a big secret.”
“To be clear,” Kitchen said tersely to LeBlanc, “you are choosing not to answer any questions?” LeBlanc replied, “Yes, sir.”
“I have a couple of questions I would like to put on the record,” continued Kitchen. “One, I'd like Sandra's question on the record. She asked why you're leaving and you chose not to answer. I have a question. Did you promise the chief you would stay here and give us two years if we sent you to the academy? I believe I know the answer to that, but are you willing to answer that or are you choosing not to?”
“I'm choosing not to,” replied LeBlanc, who then abruptly turned around and started to leave the room.
“Wow! said Kitchen, stunned by the response. Then, realizing LeBlanc was exiting the meeting, the town manager said loudly, “Excuse me? Are you walking out of the meeting?” LeBlanc never answered and walked out.
“We're not going to have any progress,” said Mercier at that point, “He's not answering any questions.” The chief admitted later he did not expect his young officer to bolt out the door mid-way through the board's discussion.
Addressing LeBlanc's abrupt departure, the police department's union representative, Officer Tim Mace, told the board, “The union had nothing to do with this.”
Turning to Mercier, Kitchen asked, “Did he give you his word that he would give us two years?”
“He did,” Mercier replied. However, when asked by Sinford if he had that promise in writing, Mercier replied, “It's just what he told me he would do.”
Questions were raised about recouping the police academy's $10,000 tuition cost, set by the academy's board of trustees and paid by the town for LeBlanc to attend the 18-week residential training program. “Has the town lost money?” asked Patryn.
Said Kitchen, "By statute, the hiring organization who hires somebody who has been to the academy within five years, pays (the losing town) a prorated amount." In other words, a town hiring an officer from another town who paid for the academy training and who has been on the job one year, is required to pay the losing town 80 percent of the academy's cost. If the officer departs after two years, the reimbursement is 60 percent, and so on, Kitchen explained.
In LeBlanc's case, where he has only been full-time three months since graduating from the academy at the expense of Machias tax payers, the Washington County Sheriff's Department appears to be on the hook for repaying Machias the full $10,000 tuition cost of attending the academy.
LeBlanc is required to return his uniforms and any equipment supplied by the town. What the town can't back is the past year.
“We're right back at square-one,” said Kitchen. “He obviously didn't work the entire time he was at the academy. He has only done shifts since mid-December. We have lost an entire year.”
“I think there are some things that can get done here,” a visibly angered selectboard member Ben Edwards said. “I'm sorry, but this transfer intra-town to another agency doesn't feel good.
I know technically it's okay, but it's not right.”
The board briefly considered terminating LeBlanc's employment immediately, but backed down when told if the town terminated LeBlanc's employment before his resignation date, the county would be off the hook for replaying the town for the officer's $10,000 training cost.
The usually routine action of the board voting to accept LeBlanc's resignation ended with a bizarre twist. Instead of accepting the officer's resignation, the board voted three to one not to accept it, after being told it could do so without making a difference in the fact that LeBlanc's resignation, effecting March 30, still stands.
Board members Mike Hinerman III, Edwards and Patryn voted not to accept the resignation while Sinford was the lone vote to accept it. Vice Chairman Carole Porcher was not present
at the meeting.
