WENHAM — Maybe they should call it the Timex Imperative. Proposals to join the police forces in Hamilton and Wenham take licking after licking, but keep on ticking.
Deb Evans, a resident activist, is circulating a petition in Hamilton and Wenham that would force special town meetings in both communities to examine the matter again. By law, selectmen are obliged to call such meetings if 200 voters sign the petitions.
Evans said so many copies of the petition are circulating she's unsure how many people have signed so far.
Although notice of the petition appears on the Web site of Support Our Schools, Evans said that grass-roots group is not sponsoring the initiative.
Although Evans and others have been careful to characterize their goal as a study of shared police services rather than a merger, the language in the petition sounds an awful lot like a merger.
It calls for special town meetings in both towns to appoint a committee to study the possible benefits "... of a single police force rather than the continuation of two separate forces and including an assessment of the most appropriate location for headquarters and satellite offices of such a shared police force."
Evans said her interest in such a study comes down to dollars and cents.
"Budgetary constraints are only going to get more serious in the coming years," she said. "As the (Department of Revenue) study said, all departments should be on the table."
Evans was referring to a recently completed state study of the possibilities for consolidation of services between the two towns, up to and including a full-blown merger. Most of the savings identified in that study, about $514,000, could be realized by merging police forces.
However, the study's authors also concluded that union negotiations would be a challenging obstacle to any form of consolidation and could offset any savings.
Even so, Evans said, the study recommended continuing to explore shared services.
Another two-town group, Enough Is Enough, is also interested in having a study done, member Bob Gray said. While the state report did present a level of detailed analysis, Gray said he thinks one done in-town would be beneficial.
Hamilton Selectman Jennifer Scuteri has been careful to point out the petition calls for an investigation of shared services, not a merger. She said selectmen in both towns might be advised to "cherry-pick" items for consolidation.
"The committee might recommend cross-swearing of officers, and any new capital purchases be done on a shared basis," Scuteri said.
Cross-swearing, which would give officers sworn to uphold the law in either town the power to make arrests in both towns, has been an ongoing subject of debate. The state study found no great savings in such a move, but Scuteri said when representatives were told Hamilton is spending loads of overtime to fill the ranks of its depleted force, "they kind of retracted" that conclusion.
David Carey, chairman of the Hamilton Board of Selectmen, feels cross-swearing might save a small amount of money, but it wouldn't be substantial.
"I don't know what (savings) we're going to find that the DOR didn't," he said. "That's a very detailed study."
But Evans says the state study could be broadened via a committee of committed residents.
"Nobody should be for or against sharing services at this point," Evans said. "All the data isn't in."
Finances are not the only concern. Some Wenham residents, among them Harriet Davis, say the problems roiling the Hamilton department for the last year would make a merger — call it whatever you will — an unsavory prospect.
"I don't think there's any stomach for this in Wenham," Davis said. "We have a good chief and a good department and a new building. We're happy with our police force."
Evans counters that Wenham would not inherit Hamilton's problems.
"You share an asset as of a particular date," she said. "As a Wenham resident, this is purely about economics and the level of police service we receive."
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