A two and one half hour public appeal hearing held via Zoom by the Eastport City Council on the evening of January 4 has resulted in the council voting 4 1 to reinstate Eastport Police Chief Peter Harris, despite City Manager Thomas Hoskins, who had fired Harris, telling the council, "It will be very challenging," if Harris were to be reinstated. Council President Billy Boone, Vice President Jeanne Peacock and councillors David Oja and Ross Lawrence voted in favor and Peter Small was opposed. When asked by Boone earlier in the hearing if he would be willing to serve as chief if reinstated, Harris replied that he would need time to think it over. As of the afternoon of January 6, Harris says that he hasn't come to a decision yet and wants to discuss his possible return with Eastport police officers. "I think it's a must," he says.
     Harris was fired by Hoskins on September 28 and had maintained it "was a wrongful termination." The dismissal is the third firing of a police chief in the past three years in the city, which has had nine police chiefs in the past 10 years.
     At the start of the appeal hearing, city attorney Dennis Mahar explained that under the city's charter the hiring and firing of city employees is for the most part under the jurisdiction of the city manager. However, he pointed out that state law says that police officers have the right to a hearing above that of their direct supervisor before termination. Such a hearing had not been part of the process prior to Harris' termination by Hoskins in September. The city council was next in line "to hear why the city manager wants to take action and why the police chief thinks that is wrong," said Mahar. The employee asking for the hearing has the right to hold the appeal hearing either in private or in public. Boone then asked Harris if he still wanted the hearing to be public, to which Harris replied he did.
     Harris, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing, and Hoskins, who was represented by Linda McGill of Bernstein Shur, then proceeded to tell their versions of how events unfolded over the past year. The crux of it came down to an undermanned police department and heavily overworked police chief struggling to meet the demands of his job while working under a new city manager attempting to set the city on a path of regulatory compliance and efficiency. Adding to the difficulty, as became clear during the appeal hearing, were management and communication styles. When near the end of the meeting Boone asked Hoskins if he could work with Harris if reinstated, Hoskins' response was so lengthy that Boone finally asked for a simple yes or no.
     During his time as interim chief and then chief, Harris had made known to the council repeatedly that the department was undermanned and that hiring police officers was a challenge across the state, but particularly in Eastport because of low compensation compared to competing communities. Because of his work schedule he fell behind in filing mandatory reports for the Maine State Police system and objected to having to attend a weekly Monday morning meeting that was held two hours after his 72 hour weekend shift ended. He told the council that he had suggested attending every other Monday meeting or that another arrangement could be made. "There was no effort to meet me halfway or find another solution," he said.
     In addition to the weekly meetings, Hoskins had required for a time that Harris and other officers check in with him at city hall three times a day because of concerns that officers were hard to contact. Harris told Hoskins that he objected to having officers do this, too, but ultimately had no say in the matter. "I went to those [weekly] meetings with no sleep," he added. "I did it, guys. ... But it was unfair and unreasonable." He felt that he was being micromanaged while not receiving the training that he needed to manage mandated reporting. Despite his differences, Harris said that he liked Hoskins and appreciated how hard the city manager worked on behalf of the city.
     Hoskins responded to Harris by saying that he was not micromanaging. He had asked the police chief to schedule other officers for weekend work so that Harris could catch up on weekly administrative tasks and participate in the weekly meetings. Harris suggested that Hoskins lacked an understanding of his work load and the work/life balance he was trying to provide for his officers, saying, "I wasn't just working weekends."
     Hoskins had issued a warning to Harris with steps to take, including the filing of reports, which Harris had complied with, but then fallen behind again during July, August and into September. In addition, Harris suggested that Hoskins didn't understand the limitations on using reserve officers. "[Hoskins] expected reserve officers to fill all sorts of hours that they can't." He explained that their hours are restricted by state law, which he successfully appealed for an interim basis.
     The straw that broke the camel's back of Hoskins' patience was when Harris hired Officer Mark Emery, who was on the police department's reserve officer list. Emery had worked for the Eastport Police Department for years and served as interim chief in the past but had left for the Baileyville Police Department in order to have a better work/life balance. However, starting in mid August he and Harris had discussed his return to Eastport. Councillor Boone questioned why Emery would have wanted to return given Hoskins' comments about how Emery and other officers had made negative statements about Harris to the city manager. If Emery was so upset with the Eastport Police Department, why did he want to return, asked Boone. "That doesn't make any sense." Boone said he'd spoken to Emery and another police officer and they "have different takes all the way around" about how they felt about Harris. Boone added later in the meeting, "I question the [negative] comments" relayed by Hoskins.
     Again, communication styles seem to have played a role, with Harris and Hoskins relaying completely different versions of what happened, with Harris saying he initially received permission from Hoskins to hire Emery if city Treasurer Traci Claroni said there were funds in the budget. Hoskins says he did not give permission but agreed that he had required that Harris check with Claroni on funds. Claroni was out of the office, Harris says, but he left a message for her, and then checked with budget committee members and former councillors Mary Repole and Gilbert Murphy. Hoskins said that after the initial message Harris did not follow up with Claroni or him before hiring Emery.
     Hoskins says that he first heard of Emery's hiring from Claroni, who told him that she heard Emery speaking in the capacity of an officer and that he later asked for paperwork to fill out. Hoskins explained that it was a liability to the city to have someone who thinks they have been hired when in fact they haven't been. Harris suggested that because Emery was already a reserve officer, it was a change of status and not a liability issue. Hoskins explained that he then asked Harris to come to his office on September 28 when Harris was notified of his choice of termination or resignation in front of Hoskins and Claroni, with the counsel of Mahar and approval of then council President Rocky Archer. In an interview conducted after Harris' firing, Archer told The Quoddy Tides that concerning the council's role in the firing of Harris, "We had nothing to do with it." Shortly after Harris' termination, Emery was hired as a full time police officer for the city.
     When all was said that needed to be said and questions asked by the council, Councillor Jeanne Peacock said that she appreciated what Hoskins had done for the city and how hard the police chief had worked in an undermanned department. "I can't see why we can't have these two people work for the city," she said. "It's clear that they both like the city and want to be here." Councillor Lawrence added that he felt as Peacock did, and said that through the months following the firing he had heard nothing but overwhelming support for Harris.
     Boone then suggested that if the motion were to reinstate Harris, and the reinstatement accepted, that the council should facilitate a meeting between the police chief, the city manager, police officers and council in order to set the wheels in motion for a better working relationship. In addition, Lawrence and Boone had suggested that the city charter might need some future revision on hiring and firing responsibilities.