The Essex Board of Selectmen is weighing its options for the top cop in town.
News that current police Chief Paul Francis plans to retire next year has led the board to consider next steps for filling the post, with discussion about the matter taking place during the regular Board of Selectmen meeting on Aug. 26.
Francis, who will formally retire on June 30, 2025, has formerly served as police chief since Aug. 1, 2019. His annual salary is $142,498, Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki said.
On Thursday, Francis, 63, said the time to step down is approaching.
“It’s time. I’ve been doing this since late 1994,” he said.
The lifelong Gloucester resident said he does not expect to move away from Cape Ann after he retires.
“I was born in Gloucester, I’ve lived in Gloucester and will be there the rest of my life, knock on wood,” Francis said. “I’m going to take some time off, but I’m not planning on moving.”
Francis was named police chief in Essex in 2018, succeeding former Police Chief Peter Silva, who retired after serving as chief since 2005.
Francis served as a member of the Essex Police Department for 23 years before being named chief.
The search process will be conducted by the Board of Selectmen.
“The selectmen are presently working to formulate how the process will work,” Zubricki said. “It will probably not begin until late-November.”
Regarding just when a successor will be named is a question.
“(The) schedule has not yet been defined,” Zubricki said.
During the Monday selectmen’s meeting, he told board members they need to determine how they plan to reach out to potential candidates and how they might post the job.
“And you need to determine what your schedule is going to be,” Zubricki said. “In addition, the board should determine whether the job description, which you have made some minor changes to, is that the final version?
“Because when we actually do advertise the position, most candidates are going to ask for a copy of the job description and we don’t want to change it in the middle of the advertisement period.”
A preliminary screening committee will make a recommendation about candidates who will eventually appear during a public forum before a finalist is selected.
Ruth Pereen, chairperson of the Board of Selectmen, said she believes that focusing on a search for candidates in Massachusetts should be sufficient.
“Do you really see a need to go outside Massachusetts?” she asked at the meeting. “I don’t. We’re going outside of the department. I think that staying within Massachusetts makes sense. If there’s somebody interested in New Hampshire or Rhode Island, they’ll probably hear about it.”
Years of service
Francis, who was 57-years-old at the time he was named chief, had worked on the Essex Police Department’s budget with Silva and also served as the department’s accreditation officer.
In addition, Francis served as a member of the Cape Ann Regional Response Team – a duty that took him and more than a dozen officers from other Cape Ann departments to Watertown for the 2013 post-Boston Marathon bombing manhunt that ultimately found the now convicted terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Francis said the experience was surreal.
“We were right in the thick of it going from house to house,” he said. “They found him in the boat.”
Francis said he was also proud of the time in 2009 when a bank robbery suspect was apprehended and later convicted for robbing the former First National Bank of Ipswich, now Brookline Bank.
“It took six weeks to find the person,” he said. “After finding him, in collaboration with the FBI and the (Middlesex) Sherriff’s Department, it was satisfying.”
But Francis said it will soon be time for a new chapter in his life.
“It’s time I did something different,” he said.
The next regular Board of Selectmen’s meeting in Essex will take place in the third floor auditorium at Town Hall on Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. Essex Town Hall is at 30 Martin St.
Stephen Hagan may be contacted at 978-675-2708, or shagan@gloucestertimes.com.