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Posted by Aaron Chrostowky, Clinton, February 10, 2010:

Their has been some controversy over our Police Chief and Highway Foreman taking the Town owned vehicle home at night. I would be interested in knowing the following:

Is your Highway Foreman/ Highway Supervisors allowed to bring home the company vehicle? If so. Does your department provide winter road maintenance or is it contracted? How many employees in your department? How many vehicles does your department use? Are they only allowed to bring home seasonally i.e (winter months or during a storm)?

Is your Police Chief allowed to bring home the company vehicle? If so. Does your department provide part-time or full-time coverage to your community?

How many officers in your department? How many vehicles does your department use?

For Both highway and Police Departments If you allow both the highway foreman and police chief to bring home town owned vehicle, how big is your community?  Are they any specific conditions to your policy?

Any help you can offer, will be helpful. thanks!

Responses:

Yes, our Police Chief, Public Works Director and Foreman and our Cemetery Supt are all allowed to take home city owned vehicles. The City of Belfast has a full-time crew of eleven truck drivers/heavy equipment operators and one mechanic, in addition to the director and foreman.  Only the director and foreman are allowed to take home their pickup trucks and you should also know that the IRS says they have to pay for this benefit which is $1.50 a day each way from home and to work for a total of $3.00 per day.  They pay a tax on this amount so I have it setup as a commuting allowance and a deduction that matches, because they don't get the $3.00 they just have to pay a tax on it.  I'm not sure how many vehicles they have, but I believe each driver has their own plow truck, plus we have a grader and loader.

The city has a full-time police department and only the chief takes home his vehicle.  Unlike the public works dept he does not have to pay the commuting allowance because it is a emergency vehicle.  Also the cemetery supt pay the commuting allowance.  I believe we have four cruisers plus the chief's and detectives vehicle.

The city has specified that these vehicles CAN NOT be used for anything other than city business.  They cannot be used as their own private vehicle.

Anymore questions feel free to contact me at 338-3370 ext. 11. )Rickie A. LeSan Treasurer, City of Belfast)

In Bar Harbor, our Public Works Foreman and our Fire Chief routinely bring their official Town owned vehicles home.  These vehicles are restricted to emergency use only when the two are off duty and a call in requires them to respond.  Also, the person on call for Wastewater or Water has the choice to bring the vehicle home while on call duty.  The Police chief does not take a vehicle home. (Stan Harmon, Bar Harbor)