Select Board Establishes Full-Time Police Chief Position
Selectboard · Meeting of January 12, 2026
New Salem Select Board restructures police department with full-time chief position. The board voted unanimously to accept the Police Futures Committee's recommendation to transition the Police Chief position from part-time to full-time while maintaining approximately the same total departmental hours. Chief John Bonafini had proposed an alternative that would combine the existing part-time Chief responsibilities with the full-time Sergeant position to remain within budget.
The board will post the full-time Chief position as an open posting, encouraging internal candidates to apply. In other business, the board voted unanimously to re-close the upper portion of West Street to winter maintenance in response to resident safety concerns.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 309 words
Source: the Selectboard meeting of January 12, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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