By Katina Caraganis, Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Massachusetts)

TOWNSEND — Police Chief Erving Marshall will go before the selectmen tonight to ask for their support in establishing a supervisor position for the station’s communications center.

Marshall said one of his full-time dispatchers is retiring next month, and he believes there needs to be somebody who can answer calls as well as tend to day-to-day operational duties.

“With all the changes in the law, and mandates for training and technology advances and that kind of thing, we’re trying to get ahead of the curve and … stay current with technology,” he said.

There are four full-time dispatchers and eight part-time dispatchers, and the potential new position would go outside the current job description they have, Marshall said.

“There’s management issues in there, there’s technology issues in there,” he said. “They would oversee all of that and wrap their head around it all. The person in this position would keep current with training and mandates.”

Town Manager Andy Sheehan said each department’s budget is due by the end of the month, and selectmen will then begin working through them.

Marshall said he wants to present the board with the proposal before selectmen saw it in his budget request.

“I’m trying to have them make a determination whether or not they will support it before me putting it in the budget,” he said. “I’m trying to get them on board.”

Selectman Nick Thalheimer said he’s interested to see what the chief has to present to the board.

“We’ll give them the floor and ask them what they’re proposing and why they’re proposing it,” he said. “After that, we’ll give it some thought. We’ll have to crunch the numbers before we make any decision. We have to look at the impact on the town.”

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