Police Chief Jeff Lange told the Wiscasset Public Safety Advisory Council Jan. 30, he is having difficulty attracting and keeping officers for a variety of reasons, chief among them the perceived lack of job security.

“Paul Rubashkin resigned as our administrative assistant, although he is staying on as a reserve officer. There was no guarantee that his position would be funded after July 1, and he needed a full-time job with benefits for his family.” Rubashkin has taken a job at Maine Pretrial Services.

Lange said, without Rubashkin, stats for the department aren’t getting done; and there is a lot of paperwork for the Academy that Lange is trying to do on his own. “You don’t realize how much you need to have an assistant in the office,” he said. He is interviewing several candidates for the part-time job.

He will also have a new hire on Feb. 26, but that young man, Alan Terrance, is also concerned about job security, Lange said. “He might already be looking for another job. We just don’t know what is going to happen after July 1. I’m trying to keep morale up every day. It’s a bit of an uphill fight.”

He said Terrance was the only candidate to apply for the position. “They’re just not applying,” he said. “We pay 18 percent lower than other towns of our size.”

Wiscasset also pays less than the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Lange said. “And I know that Sheriff (Todd) Brackett is having trouble getting applicants through the process, too,” he said.