West Stockbridge — The Select Board convened at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, to interview four candidates, with one to follow retiring Police Chief Marc Portieri’s tenure. By 6:30 p.m., they had their answer, offering full-time Officer Nicole Miller the position. Portieri’s last day with the local department is July 7.
Although Select Board members said their decision was difficult given how qualified all the applicants were, the approximately $70,000 cost to the town of putting a chosen candidate who wasn’t certified in Massachusetts through police training was a factor in their approval. Two interviewees—Police Chief David Kachajian of Brandon, Vt., and former Police Chief Ellis Richardson of Hudson, N.Y.—would require that training. Full-time West Stockbridge Police Officer Daniel Hamill was also interviewed.
The dais posed questions to the candidates in 30-minute increments, focusing on leadership style, local traffic issues, and building trust within the community.
Both Kachajian and Richardson touted getting “buy-in” from their officers by providing them with training the officers are interested in as a way to keep them with the force, often solving the issue of training an officer who later leaves the department in favor of a larger, higher-paying position elsewhere.
Kachajian said an “open communication channel” is important between a police chief and their staff, in addition to residents and town governing members. He likened West Stockbridge’s traffic issues to those he encountered in Vermont.
Kachajian described a Highway Enforcement Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) protocol his department used to reduce traffic crashes and other vehicle-related violations. For Kachajian, making his officers feel they have a say in the department was crucial to its success.
Hamill proposed the expansion and modernization of current programs in the department and advocated his good communication skills and leadership traits as integral to gaining respect from subordinate officers. He also proposed “Coffee with a Cop” and other social gatherings as a way of strengthening communication with residents. For traffic assistance, he supported adding a speed board or vacant cruiser to Main Street to slow speeders through town.
Richardson, who served from 1986 to 2013 at the helm of Hudson’s department, advocated creating “a winning team” culture within West Stockbridge’s force as he did in New York state; that is, his officers felt they were a part of something “good” and “professional” as in a successful baseball team. Richardson said “visibility” would be his initial approach to gaining trust and knowledge in the community, interacting with local members. As chief, he required his officers to get out of their cars and conduct foot patrols twice during eight-hour shifts.
The last to interview, Miller complimented the townspeople and officials for welcoming her to the municipality and, in return, admitted her “love” for the community. She began with the local department in January after 21 years of policing, having previously served as an officer in Becket and as police chief for seven years in Washington, Mass.
Miller defined the top job as twofold: being an administrator but taking to the streets for patrol. She cited her success at winning grants, using a recent Road Safety Grant to add a new radar trailer/message board within the town’s borders, with the data collected from that source forming the basis of a patrol traffic plan as to what roads and time of day warrant more attention.
Miller said “communication” with her officers is paramount to empower staffers.
For Miller, Excel spreadsheets are her “go-to” for organization, whether it is keeping up with officer training or cruiser detail. However, she advocated for her officers to take on some aspects of those jobs under her watchful eye and said she would never ask an officer to do something she wasn’t willing to do.
In response to a question as to how she intended to build trust within the department and community, Miller said she would employ honest and open conversations with both her officers and residents, offering an open house for townspeople to air their concerns as well as ideas for improvement. She also proposed creating a monthly newsletter containing information pertinent to her constituency such as detailing the department’s monthly statistics, addressing scams targeting local seniors, or announcing a bike helmet giveaway for children.
“At the end of the day, even though being a chief is a position of power, I don’t take advantage of that power,” she addressed the dais. “I literally just want to work with other officers, work together, and I want them to be as successful as I am. The only way to do that is if we work together.”
Although Select Board member Kathleen Keresey said she preferred time to think about each candidate’s half-hour talk, member Andy Potter said his “inclination was to finish it today” with a group discussion and session vote. He ranked Richardson as his top choice for the position, citing the “immediacy and cogency of his responses,” professionalism, level of experience, and range of experiences. Miller was second on Potter’s list but first on Select Board Chair Andy Krouss’s ranking as he noted she had already been in the town a while and understood aspects of the West Stockbridge culture.
“She’s seen what we’re about,” Krouss said. He added that Miller has proven grant-writing ability, which has consistently been an issue for the town.
Krouss addressed a budgetary issue Portieri raised during the Select Board’s June 9 meeting regarding the candidate selection. At the June 11 session, Portieri confirmed that should a candidate be chosen who was not certified for police work in Massachusetts, the town is required to foot the bill for a 23-week course at the Commonwealth’s Police Academy to certify the individual. Additionally, West Stockbridge would be without the police chief’s services during that time, he said.
According to Portieri, the Police Academy entry fee is $6,300, but West Stockbridge is also obligated to pay the police chief’s wages while training, bringing the expense tally up to $70,000.
Citing the June 9 Select Board discussion, Keresey said the certification issue was “a little bit of an impediment for a fast start for a new chief,” with no certification process currently scheduled.
Portieri said a waiver of that certification program is possible if specific requirements are met, but new measures still require a training course to be implemented at town expense.
“Knowing that, that would cause me to want to weigh more heavily in endorsing [Miller] for the position,” Keresey said.
Potter agreed and reranked the candidates, putting Miller as next in line for the job. The vote was unanimous for Miller, who was brought back into the meeting for the announcement. “That sounds wonderful,” she said to applause.
Following the session, Miller told The Berkshire Edge she felt as though she was “literally in a dream.” “I’m excited and I feel so empowered to be here,” she said.
The Massachusetts native said she graduated from the Police Academy in 2004 and attributes her career to the outgoing police chief. “The reason I started this process of being a police officer is because of Chief Portieri,” Miller said. She explained that while he was working in Becket, Portieri told her, ‘Nicole, go talk to the Chief, go to the Academy, we need you.’
“And I did,” Miller said. “Fast forward about 16 years in Becket. I had an opportunity to come here with Chief Portieri in January, and I jumped on that. And I’m very happy.”
Portieri told The Berkshire Edge that West Stockbridge “is in very good hands with [Miller]” after working 22 years with her in Becket. “From the first day she started, I knew she was a very good police officer,” he said. “She’s into the community. She’s only been here four or five months, but I guess the right timing is the right timing.”
Miller said she “absolutely loves what [she does].” “I love feeling like I’m part of something bigger,” Miller said.
Next, the Select Board will meet in an executive session to draft a police chief contract with Miller on behalf of the town.
