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Police and fire chiefs report rising call volumes, limited staffing and recent grants
Summary
Templeton’s police and fire chiefs told the Select Board that call volumes and mutual-aid demands remain high, cited recent grants and repairs, and said staffing shortages constrain response capacity; the board signaled it will consider staffing changes during the budget process.
Templeton’s police and fire chiefs presented second-quarter reports to the Select Board on Jan. 5, describing heavy call volumes, staffing shortages and recent grants for equipment and training.
The police chief reported 3,369 calls for service in the quarter and corrected a prior calculation to show about 36.6 calls per day (approximately 1.5 calls per hour). He told the board the department received two grants this quarter: the Edward J. Bridal Memorial Justice Assistance Grant ($16,000) to buy mobile data terminals for patrol vehicles and an E‑911 FY26 training grant for $24,769.60 to pay training and membership costs. The chief also confirmed that the cruiser fleet has been restored after repairs and that some vehicles were repaired under warranty.
“We were staffed that day, but in a time frame of about 90 minutes, we responded to five calls,” the police chief said, explaining why mutual aid and callbacks were needed during a spike in activity.
Fire Chief reports showed 359 emergency calls in the quarter and 56 residential/commercial inspections; the department explained a multi-ambulance response to a serious call that coincided with other concurrent calls. The fire chief said volunteer and on‑call recruitment is slowly improving but noted new on-call personnel often lack ambulance or paramedic experience and require additional training.
Board members asked whether some funds set aside for per-diem/on‑call pay could be redirected to hire additional full-time ambulance personnel. The fire chief said he would review budget numbers with the town administrator during budget season and present options, but cautioned that added full-time hires bring additional benefit costs.
Next steps: chiefs will provide more detailed budget options during the town budget process; the board requested information on mutual aid in/out and on the costs to convert per‑diem funding into full-time positions.
