ORANGE — It’s being touted as a neighborly gesture that will also save some money.
Orange has agreed to share its police chief, Craig Lundgren, with adjacent Athol until the end of the fiscal year. Lundgren, starting on Nov. 1, will spend 2½ days in each Athol and Orange until June 30, and the two towns will split the cost.
“There is an opportunity in the agreement for all those involved to review the contract and ensure that this is indeed working perfectly for the town of Athol and the town of Orange and those involved in the process,” Orange Selectboard Chairman Ryan Mailloux said at Wednesday’s Selectboard meeting.
Athol Police Chief Russell Kleber has been on paid administrative leave since July 16, and submitted a letter of resignation on Sept. 21 to Athol Town Manager Shaun A. Suhoski, who accepted the resignation. Kleber’s resignation will take effect on May 31, 2019, and he will be compensated with unused accrued paid time off and paid administrative leave until then.
The reasons for Kleber’s resignation has been left opaque by town officials, who said only that “The decision to resign was difficult, but Chief Kleber and the town manager … ultimately felt this action was in the best interest of all parties.”
But the arrangement to keep Kleber on the payroll until May 31, makes it difficult to replace him quickly with an acting chief, which led officials of the neighboring towns to consider a shared police administrator temporarily.
The portion of Lundgren’s $108,000 salary between Nov. 1 and the end of the year will be split and paid equally by Athol and Orange, and if any injury were to happen to Lundgren while working, the insurance policy of the town where the injury occurred would cover it. Employee benefit costs are also split equally, Mailloux said.
According to Lundgren, Orange’s police department is well equipped with two sergeants who would take command while he is in Athol. Lundgren has also expressed excitement about the opportunity.
“I think that I can bring some knowledge and experience that I’ve learned and gained over the last five years as police chief to the town of Athol and help them out,” Lundgren said. “But I’m also confident that I will learn some things from Athol that I can bring back to the town of Orange that we might be able to improve upon and do things better.”
The framework of the deal was worked out by Suhoski and Orange Town Administrator Gabriele Voelker, who called it “an opportunity for neighboring communities to help each other.”
“I look forward to this, I am 100 percent agreeable to this and I will put 100 percent effort into this,” Lundgren said. “If this doesn’t work in a month or two months or three months, then either town can step back and say this is not what we need.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.