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Date: 3/23/2022
BELCHERTOWN – After receiving notice that Police Chief Christopher Pronovost will be retiring following the expiration of his contract on June 30, the Belchertown Select Board discussed the next steps in the search for his successor during a March 14 meeting.
Board member Ronald Aponte started the discussion by reading Pronovost’s retirement notice and that the next step was to pick an assessment service, noting that Pronovost had narrowed the selection down to three firms Public Safety Consultants LLC (PSC), Integrity Testing and Badge Quest.
Board Vice Chair Jim Barry said he was in favor of using an assessment firm.
“I like the idea of having someone doing a recruitment for us because it can cast a wider net, they know more about what the current state of policing is in Massachusetts than any group of people we can put together in terms of who has the right experience to make the first cut before you even get to the interview process,” he said.
Barry said he had reservations about using Integrity Testing for the search and assessment.
“I found they not only had typo errors but listed Belchertown as a former client and the address was an address on Martha’s Vineyard. We received a report from these folks in October of last year, which also was, in my opinion, not well written and full of typos,” he said.
Aponte said he was in favor of working with PSC.
“I think either of Badge Quest or PSC would do a fine job, I like PSC because they seem to be more chief-centric with their references and background versus Badge Quest, which seems to be more sergeant and lieutenant centric,” he said.
While initially the cost for PSC looked lower than Badge Quest with a $12,000 price tag compared to a $21,000 price tag, Board member Ed Boscher pointed out that the PSC price did not include fees for background checks, psychological evaluations or advertising.
Town Administrator Gary Brougham agreed with Aponte’s recommendation.
“My prior experiences with Badge Quest have been very professional and thorough, but it seems PSC is more engaged in upper-level management specifically in the police industry as opposed to a number of references Badge Quest provided including town administrators and police sergeants,” he said.
Brougham added that because the landscape in policing has changed so much since hiring Pronovost through Badge Quest, it may be better to go with PSC because of their specialization in police management.
“Since we utilized Badge Quest to hire Chief Pronovost, this industry has changed 360 degrees. Things that we are looking for in a police chief or a police professional today were unheard of seven years ago. Consequently, the whole industry is reeling from the abrupt change and the uncertainty,” he said. “It has really tipped the whole industry upside down and that is probably why we want somebody who is homed in on the current market.”
The board unanimously approved a motion to accept PSC’s proposal to serve as the assessment firm in the search for the town’s next police chief.
On top of accepting Pronovost’s retirement, the board accepted another resignation from a police officer, bringing the total number of current vacancies up to two with two other officers out on medical leave. Brougham added that there were challenges hiring positions across the board to fill some of the vacancies.
“No one is stepping up, there is an acute shortage of applicants from police, fire, paramedics, wastewater, drinking water, police dispatchers, it’s gotten to be everybody is stealing everybody else’s help,” he said.
The Belchertown Select Board next met on March 21.