Retired state trooper appointed as Dover-Foxcroft PD sergeant

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A brief vacancy at sergeant in the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department created when Todd Lyford departed at the start of the new year to become the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy has been filled with the appointment of retired Maine State Police Cpl. Matt Grant. Grant was officially appointed by the selectmen during a Jan. 14 meeting.

“It seems like things are going full circle, I worked here part-time 30 years ago,” Grant said about the early stages of his career in law enforcement. Last spring he retired after 28 years with the Maine State Police. Grant, who lives in Dover-Foxcroft, retired as a corporal and he served as commander of the Underwater Recovery Team and as a troop investigator.

Grant said he looks forward to working with Police Chief Ryan Reardon and for the town.

In other business Town Manager Jack Clukey said, “We are trying to deal with a few of our street lights that are going on and off, they are new street lights so we don’t expect any issues.” He said municipal officials have been talking with RealTerm Energy and other Maine communities are also experiencing problems with company street lights.

Finance Director Dave Johnson said a high-end fuse was required by Central Maine Power, which supplies electricity to the poles, and he said despite being high-end water is still getting in to the component and corrosion is occuring.

“Right now they are not pushing the panic button, they are researching,” he said about RealTerm Energy. “We have roughly 10 right now with some issues, they are coming on and off.”

Johnson praised Northern Line Construction for fixing the street lights, and he said the malfunctioning fuses are being saved to help find a long-term solution to the issues.

Clukey also gave updates on several other items. He said he has spoken with Mayo Regional Hospital President and CEO Marie Vienneau on the hospital’s potential merger with Northern Light Health.

“I relayed our interest in hosting a public meeting as soon as they are ready,” Clukey said. “She said she would like to really work out all those details before they have a meeting. They are very committed to doing it, they just want to do it when they have all of that information.”

The town manager said the revised land use committee would be having its organizational meeting two nights later and the group would like to have a public hearing on the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 6. “Really they are just trying to be on the timeline to get an ordinance ready for June,” Clukey said about that month’s referendum.

“We just had a public works and wastewater committee meeting last week to talk about budgets,” he said. Clukey said other committees will be convening in the near future to start preliminary discussions on expenses for the 2019-20 fiscal year.