GRAFTON — Voters again will be asked this March whether to give the Board of Selectmen the authority to appoint the town’s police chief, a proposal residents have rejected three times in the past.
This year, the question will appear on the Town Meeting warrant alongside a contested race for police chief, and the two candidates are sharply divided over the proposal.
The Grafton Police Department has been without a chief since Mitchell Briggs resigned in November, said Selectman Steve Darrow in a phone interview. Briggs’ three-year term was set to expire this March.
Under the current system, the police chief is elected by voters and must be a Grafton resident. The selectboard is proposing to change the position to an appointed one that would allow candidates who live outside town limits to apply.
“That’s basically the only reason,” Darrow said of the rationale for the change.
On March 10, voters will choose between two candidates for police chief: Synthia Ravell, 56, and Jeffrey Cogswell, 62. While both are seeking the same office, they hold opposing views on whether future chiefs should be appointed beginning in 2027.
Ravell said she supports an appointed chief, particularly for a small department like Grafton’s.
Ravell has worked in the legal field for nearly 40 years, primarily for Upper Valley attorneys, and is currently finishing her tenure as executive assistant to the city attorney in Portsmouth. She said her management experience would help stabilize the department, which typically has three officer positions. Two of them are vacant.
“With our chief resigning and the full-time officer following behind him, that left the part-time officer to fill the needs of the town and the office, which doesn’t really work,” Ravell said.
Ravell’s sister, Sara Hogue, is the Selectboard’s administrative assistant, and her brother-in-law, Leif Hogue, is the board’s chairman.
Ravell said electing a police chief can make sense in larger departments, where there are more internal candidates prepared to step into leadership roles. In a small town, she said, appointment allows for greater flexibility and stability.
Cogswell, however, strongly opposes removing the decision from voters. He said an appointed chief could feel pressured to answer to selectboard members rather than residents, potentially allowing politics to influence public safety decisions.
“It comes down to the selectmen trying to usurp power away from the people,” Cogswell said when reached Wednesday by phone.
Cogswell said he has lived in Grafton for 11 years and has not previously been involved in town politics, but decided to run because he believes he is uniquely qualified for the role.
“I’m just doing this to give back to the town,” he said. “If I win, I’m going to give it a 100% effort.”
Cogswell is an Air Force and Army veteran, and a former full-time police officer in the New Hampshire towns of New Hampton, Loudon and Alexandria, he said.
Cogswell questioned Ravell’s qualifications, noting that she does not have a law enforcement background and would need to attend the police academy. He said some candidates fail to complete the training due to its difficulty.
Ravell said she plans to begin the academy process as soon as possible and does not believe a lack of prior law enforcement experience means she can’t do the job.
“Just because I was never a police officer, that does not disqualify me from that position,” said Ravell.
The two candidates are also involved in a personal legal dispute related to a home construction project.
Cogswell’s company, Berry Hill Construction, was contracted by Ravell and her husband, Robert Ravell. The case is currently pending and set for periodic review, according to court documents, though it was previously dismissed in April.
Darrow said he has reservations about both candidates. He confirmed that if Ravell is elected, she would be paid as police chief while attending the academy. He added that though the academy itself is free, covering a town employee’s salary throughout that period risks wasting funds in the event the employee drops out or resigns shorty after to work somewhere else. Darrow also noted that Cogswell has not worked as a police officer in about 20 years.
“We would prefer somebody in town if somebody in town was qualified,” Darrow said in a phone interview Thursday.
If voters next month opt for an appointed chief, it is unclear if the winner between Cogswell and Ravell would be replaced before the end of the three-year term. The length of the term for selectboard appointments has not been determined yet either, said Darrow.
“I don’t know if it would be a time-limited appointment or not. I don’t think we’ve gotten that far,” said Darrow.
Darrow said allowing appointments would give the town more options and improve long-term stability. Under the proposed system, the selectboard would review applications and choose a candidate from a broader pool.
Candidates would need to live close enough to reasonably commute, though no specific distance has been set, Darrow said.
The appointment measure has failed three times previously, though election results available through the town website show that residents could be warming up to the idea.
In 2022, 118 residents, about 39% of voters that year, supported the measure and 182 residents, or 61%, opposed it.
The following year, 153 residents, or 45%, supported it and 184 residents, or 55%, voted in opposition.
The item did not appear on the following 2024 ballot, but last year, the item just barely failed, with 103 people, or 49%, voting in support of the change and 106 people, or 51%, voting against it.
The Town of Grafton deliberative session will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Fire Station, 5 Library Road. During the meeting, voters can amend warrant articles, including the proposal to appoint the next police chief, from the floor.
A meet-the-candidates event will be held Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall, 35 Turnpike Road. Town Meeting ballot voting in Grafton will take place on Tuesday, March 10 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., also at the fire station.