All three candidates for York County sheriff say they’re well aware of the staffing shortages at York County Jail.

Two of them, South Berwick Police Chief Dana Lajoie and retired sheriff’s deputy and hospital security officer Paul Main, say the hefty number of vacancies ”“ 22 as of April 25 ”“ can be laid at the door of the current administration. The 22 vacancies, along with seven corrections staff who out on family or medical leave, translates to three or four overtime shifts per week for existing officers, National Correctional Employees Union director Christopher Murray said last week. A staffing emergency called earlier this month is set to be lifted May 5, when seven newly trained staff join the ranks.

“If it’s not the salary, it has to be the leadership,” said Main, of Alfred, pointing to the estimated starting hourly wage of $17 plus benefits. “The jail administrator has a closed-door policy.”

Lajoie, of South Berwick, attributed the high turnover to the working environment, stress, what he called “management’s ability to treat people fairly,” and in some cases, poor conduct on the part of corrections officers.

William “Bill” King, second in command at the sheriff’s office as chief deputy, said the vacancies are concerning. He said the jail has stringent hiring standards and that every facility has its share of turnover. Some apply for corrections jobs thinking it’s a stepping stone to a police gig ”“ and for some, it is, he said. Others find the demands of the job, which requires overtime when the vacancy rate cranks up, to be too much.

“York County has had an inordinate amount of resignations,” said King. “Exit interviews mostly blame the overtime demands of the job.”

The three candidates for the four-year term as sheriff are Democrats. There are no Republicans in the race, which means it will likely be decided with the June 10 primary, unless an independent candidate files nomination papers by June 2, kicking the contest into November.

Whenever the contest is decided, the person who takes the oath of office Jan. 1 will have three primary responsibilities: rural patrol, civil service process and York County Jail.

Main, who worked for the sheriff’s office for 18 years, said one way to help ease the overtime situation at the jail, and improve morale among corrections staff at the same time, would be for the sheriff, chief deputy, major, lieutenant and captains, to pitch in and help.

“Go out and work a shift” in the jail, said Main.

Both Main and King advocate the use of reserve officers in the jail.

King said he’d like to institute a reserve corrections officer program using school teachers, who typically have more time off than those in other occupations. They would train and then work during school vacations and holidays, he said. King said he plans to elevate the role of corrections officers, and make rural patrol and the jail one entity.

Lajoie said he’ll offer specific answers to solving the jail vacancy issue at a candidates debate set for May 15 at Kennebunk Town Hall, and pointed to his long career as police chief in South Berwick.

“I have the experience to manage staff, budget restraints, submission of all sorts of grants and most importantly, the ability to lead,” he said, adding the solution to the issue won’t be immediate, “ because the cause has been in place for several years.”

A Berwick native, Lajoie, 58, said in a prior interview that those who work for his South Berwick department tend to stick around. He’s looking at hiring for the first time in nine years because one officer is retiring, he said.

Lajoie has been chief in South Berwick since 1986, and for a couple of years, he served as chief in Berwick at the same time.

“I’m a supporter of collaboration,” said Lajoie during that interview. He has been a member of the York County Jail Advisory Board, several previous regional dispatch consolidation committees, the Seacoast Emergency Response Consortium, is liaison to the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety and is a member of several police associations. Lajoie has pointed out that South Berwick has been named the best small town in Maine in which to raise children.

“I understand the importance of school safety, senior support and general needs of the community overall,” he said.

In the 1990s, Lajoie, as chief, came under fire for the alleged conduct of some officers in the department ”“ complaints ranged from harassment to excessive use of force ”“ and was ordered suspended for two weeks by then-town manager Jim Kotredes. Lajoie put the matter down to a couple of officers whom he called “bad eggs in the nest.” He said he filed suit against the town in response to the allegations, held a public meeting in town that drew 160 people and explained what had taken place, and then withdrew the suit. A sexual harassment suit filed against Lajoie later in the 1990s was decided in his ”“ and the town’s ”“ favor by a federal judge.

Main, 66, began his sheriff’s office career in 1980 as a patrol deputy. He became a detective, and as a division head, said he built a 24-person reserve unit that served rural patrol, the corrections division and transport division. Main said he’s looking to institute upward mobility in the department and would sit with county commissioners, and the unions that represent corrections staff and rural patrol, to establish a reserve division.

Main noted the jail food and medical services have been outsourced to companies outside York County and said he would look for local providers, which he said may save money for the county and give the providers a boost at the same time. He advocates coordinating patrol shifts with the Maine State Police under the current call sharing arrangement.

King, 60, of Saco, worked for 26 years for the Office of the Inspector General of the federal justice department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency before moving back to Maine in 2008. He began his career at Portland Police Department and joined the federal Drug Enforcement Agency after three years with the Central Intelligence Agency. King returned to Maine in 1988 as assistant director of public safety, where he assisted in developing the Bureau of Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement. Then came two decades with the Office of the Inspector General, where he restructured field offices in Tucson, Ariz. and Atlanta, among other tasks. His job also entailed internal affairs investigations ”“ work that took him inside the federal prison system.

He was the subject of a television news story in Atlanta in 2005 that focused on his personal use of his federally issued vehicle. King said he was busy at work that day and ended up taking his work car to a job refereeing basketball at a school for the developmentally disabled. He said he thought the use was within policy, but his supervisor disagreed. The news story also revealed King had overestimated his mileage. He said the experience made him a better supervisor.

“It made me more sympathetic to people,” he said.

King said he should have told the school he couldn’t make it that night, but he didn’t want to disappoint the youngsters. He transferred to New York, where he earned two awards for his work.

He said his work in federal prisons has shown him how valuable the job of a corrections officer is, and how officers have to stay vigilant.

King joined the sheriff’s office in 2010 and is best known for his work with the Jamaican lottery scams that prey on the elderly. He has met with Jamaican government officials and testified before a U.S. Senate committee on the subject in 2013. The Jamaican government passed laws addressing the scams, although they continue.

Lajoie agrees the scams are a continuing problem; he said police departments weekly deal with the scams that target the elderly.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].