New hires will put sheriff’s office back to full strength

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The county commissioners gave their approval to the hire of Trevor Duby and Tysen Ober as deputy sheriffs during an Oct. 18 meeting, filling a pair of long-standing patrol vacancies in the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office.

“We finally reached the point where we think we have two really good candidates,” Chief Deputy Bob Young said.

Young said Duby, 22 of Guilford, currently works at Tractor Supply and has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Beal College. Young said Duby has taken part in ride-alongs over the last year to learn more about law enforcement.

The chief deputy said Ober, 27 of Dover-Foxcroft, is currently a railroad engineer with Central Maine & Quebec Railway and a helicopter pilot with the Maine Army National Guard.

Duby and Ober have gone through physical fitness and polygraph tests and psychological examinations. “Both of them came out very high on all the evaluations,” Young said.

He said the plan is for the new deputies to start training with the department on Nov. 1. Duby and Ober need to attend the 18-week Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro starting in early 2017. “We are looking at them hitting the streets on their own in June,” Young said, saying Duby could potentially patrol the northern portion of the county while Ober could be assigned to the eastern region.

“They sound like great candidates, I’m glad we waited,” Commissioners Chair Fred Trask said.

In other business, county officials met with Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Capraro.

“The biggest thing I’m working on is the water situation in Dover-Foxcroft,” Capraro said, as the Dover & Foxcroft Water District has issued a water conservation request to its customers as the town’s water source Salmon Stream Pond has been impacted by current drought conditions.

Capraro said a recent meeting of engineers and staff from various state agencies determined that the intake pipe at Salmon Stream Pond could be lowered, and this work will take place in the near future once the proper permits have been issued. When asked, Capraro said based on the photographs he saw, the pipe could be lowered by six feet.

“They all agreed the pipe should be lowered and they are going to do it right away,” Capraro said. “It’s going to be a pretty big project.”

He said there is about three days worth of water in storage tanks as well as another pipe not currently in use to provide water if needed during the work.

The commissioners accepted the resignation of Todd Lyford as the E-9-1-1 addressing officer, and Capraro said some of these duties could be covered by the EMA. Road Agent Carl Henderson may be able to handle some of the field work while he is traveling around the region, and the commissioners will discuss the matter more at a later meeting.

In his report, Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said the the public hearing on the county and unorganized territory budgets would be on Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. He said the session will take place in the commissioner’s meeting room, as opposed to the courthouse.

Lizotte said the budget advisory committee is the midst of its work and the group could make its final vote on Oct. 27. “That’s the earliest the budget committee has wrapped up that I can recall,” he said.