The Hallowell officer who once accused Police Chief Eric Nason of sexual assault has left the department, and officials are wrangling over how much the city should be reimbursed for her training.

Since January, Hallowell has been paying for the officer to attend the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s 18-week training program, which ends this month. She resigned from the department Friday to take a full-time officer’s job in Thomaston.

Hallowell Police Chief Eric Nason has kept his job despite what he acknowledges as an inappropriate relationship with an officer who since has gone to work in Thomaston. Contributed photo

In a 4-3 vote Monday, the Hallowell City Council rejected a deal negotiated between City Manager Michael Starn and Thomaston that would have had the town pay Hallowell $15,000 to reimburse training costs. That’s $15,000 less than what Hallowell could have received if the officer had been hired in Thomaston after graduation and about $5,000 less than the city says it has paid in salary and other training costs.

Council critics said $15,000 isn’t enough, given that the officer already had been hired by Thomaston when the council voted.

“There was absolutely no reason given to establish a precedent of giving away the taxpayers’ expectation of reimbursement of tuition,” said Councilor Alan Stearns, who voted against the deal and has been critical of the city’s handling of the Nason case.

The Kennebec Journal reported in June 2014 that the chief had been investigated in 2013 by Maine State Police after he and the officer had sex at Nason’s camp in West Gardiner and the officer said she had been too drunk to have given consent. Nason denied the allegation.

The state police investigation ended with no charges filed against the chief. The officer was hired full-time in Hallowell that year, and reported to Nason. The Kennebec Journal hasn’t named the officer, now 23.

In response to the allegation against Nason, city councilors in October approved an ordinance banning relationships between supervisors and employees, while mandating sexual harassment training for all employees.

In December, Nason apologized to city councilors for the relationship and said that his “lack of judgment” has hurt his family and caused “embarrassment to the community that I love.” On Jan. 2, the council voted 5-2 to reappoint Nason as police chief, despite the officer’s allegation and a second sexual misconduct complaint by another woman who alleged Nason had taken a pornographic picture of her as she slept in 1997.

Starn said Hallowell paid $20,300 in salary, benefits, tuition and overtime pay to cover shifts and other costs for the officer’s time at the academy.

It is not rare for police agencies to send officers to the academy who are then hired by other departments after graduation. State law and academy trustees set rates at which the hiring department should reimburse the sending department. That scale starts at $30,000 in the year after graduation and decreases $6,000 a year for five years following graduation, but departments can also negotiate their own deals.

It’s less common for departments to hire people before training is complete. John Rogers, director of the Vassalboro-based academy, said it’s happened only seven or eight times in his 12-year tenure, during which about 1,200 people have graduated.

In a statement released by the officer’s attorney, David Webbert, she said she’ll graduate from the academy next week, and “as part of moving ahead with my law enforcement career,” she accepted the full-time job.

The officer is now a Thomaston employee, and Police Chief Kevin Haj said his department will pay her to attend the rest of the training. Haj said he hadn’t heard of Hallowell’s decision until a reporter called him Wednesday, but the officer is a town employee and Hallowell must “figure something out” and “communicate with us.”

Starn said he’ll keep trying to negotiate with Thomaston.

Along with Stearns, Councilors Phillip Lindley, Mark Sullivan and Lynn Irish opposed the deal negotiated by Starn, who said he proposed it because the officer “indicated that she did not want to work in Hallowell in the long term.” It was backed by the city’s Personnel Committee: Councilors George Lapointe, Lisa Harvey-McPherson and Kate Dufour.

“I quite honestly thought that the council would approve it,” Starn said, “but they decided not to, and now we have to deal with that outcome.”

Michael Shepherd can be contacted at 370-7652 or at:

mshepherd@centralmaine.com

Twitter: mikeshepherdme

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