Wiscasset has hired two men to carry out the duties of interim police chief.

Town Manager Marian Anderson said Michael W. Pardue and Jerry A. Hinton, a retired Brunswick police chief, were hired through the Tideview Group. The two will share the administrative responsibilities along with coordinating the day-to-day operations of the police department including public affairs, administrative duties and scheduling of the officers.

Under the arrangement Pardue will serve as acting police chief in the event Hinton is unavailable. The town manager said the two would share a weekly schedule averaging 32 hours until a new chief has been hired. They’ll be accessible 24/7 to police department personnel. Hinton served as Brunswick’s police chief from 1993 to 2008. Since then he’s served as an interim police chief for a number of Maine communities, including Bridgton last year, which has a police department similar to Wiscasset’s. He is a past president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and a certified instructor at Maine’s criminal justice academy.

Pardue of the Tideview Group is a former public safety director for the city of Westbrook serving as both its police and fire chief. 

After a chief is hired, Hinton and Pardue will continue on for a time to facilitate the transition, Anderson said.

“The Tideview Group will invoice the town at the rate of $65-per-hour for services performed. Expenses shall be billed at cost,” Anderson said.

The resignation of Police Chief Troy Cline left Wiscasset with two full-time officers, Sergeant Alfred “Willy” Simmons and Officer Nadean Crossley. The department relies on eight part-time “reserve officers” to provide the town with 24/7 coverage along with a part-time shellfish warden. Diane Hammond was recently hired as the department’s administrative assistant.  

The application deadline for police chief was set to end April 1. The town manager told selectmen her goal is to fill the position filled by June 1. She said she engaged the Tideview Group to provide police administrative services to support Sgt. Simmons and Officer Crossley through the hiring process. The Tideview Group was hired by the town in 2015 to review and assess the Wiscasset Ambulance Service.

Cline tendered his resignation during the first week in March to become police chief for the town of Buxton. He served four-and-a-half years as Wiscasset’s chief.