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Date: 7/7/2022
CHESTER – The Chester-Blandford Police Department is seeking a new leader after Chief Tammy Weidhaas announced that she would be stepping down to take a position in the Otis Police Department.
Weidhaas began her position as a sergeant in Otis on July 5. She gave notice of her resignation to the towns on June 17. Weidhaas said that because she is required to give 60 days’ notice when leaving the chief’s position, she will also remain on as part-time chief in Chester and Blandford until at least Aug. 17.
She said if a new police chief is not found for the two-town police department by then, she will remain on part-time until one is found, an arrangement she said officials in Otis are aware of.
Weidhaas said part of her reason for leaving Chester and Blandford was that she believes the department to be underfunded in just about every area. She said she feels that Otis appears to be a community ready to have a larger and better-funded police department, and she hopes to contribute to that transition.
“This has been a year and a half in the making,” said Weidhaas, who was sworn in as chief on Feb. 1, 2021. “They are looking to create a bigger department in Otis. I don’t feel that the towns of Chester and Blandford are ready to have a big enough department.”
Her resignation letter came just days after Town Meeting votes in Blandford and Chester that substantially increased the Police Department budget, including her own salary. Town voters agreed to hike the annual budget from $154,900 to $186,018, which Weidhaas said would allow the department to pay its part-time officers $24 an hour instead of $22, and increase patrol coverage from 25 hours per week to 42 hours per week. Weidhaas had said her goal was eventually to build the department’s patrol time to 112 hours per week.
Part of the increased budget was a new part-time administrative assistant to take over some of the paperwork that the chief has been doing, allowing the chief to spend more time on patrol.
A large part of the budget hike was increased pay for the full-time chief, whose salary went from $60,000 to $70,000. The salary hike proved controversial in both towns, as the finance committees recommended a smaller raise, at least to start. Select Board members in both towns, who supported the budget as voted, argued that the $70,000 figure was already a compromise from the $81,000 salary that Weidhaas had requested.
Weidhaas said at both Town Meetings that she is the lowest-paid full-time police chief in the state, and that $81,000 is the average pay for a Massachusetts police chief in a department covering a population equal to Blandford plus Chester.
Chester posted a job search notice on June 28 that gives $70,000 as the salary. Applications are being taken until July 15, with interviews to be scheduled at that time. The town expects to hire a new chief “on or before Sept. 1.”
According to the job posting, Chester is looking for an academy-certified police officer with at least 10 years’ experience, preferably with at least three years’ experience in law enforcement administration.
Michael Ballway for Reminder Publishing contributed to this report.