By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Police Sgt. Frank Kochanek received a $4 hourly pay raise, which adds up to a 20 percent increase, at the New Boston selectmen’s meeting Monday, May 1, following an hour-long discussion during which words grew admittedly personal between the chief of police and the town administrator.

“Tonight, you’ve just beaten me to a pulp,” Town Administrator Burton Reynolds told Police Chief Christopher Krajenka, in the midst of a presentation in which Krajenka repeatedly spoke of lack of morale among town employees, and said Reynolds often stifles discussion at meetings of town department heads.

Krajenka’s complaints stemmed from the initial topic of discussion, which was Kochanek’s salary. Krajenka and Kochanek appeared together before the board, with about 15 residents and town employees seated behind them in the selectmen’s meeting room.

With a July wedding date pending, Kochanek said he would not be able to support his wife and three sons on the $20.95 hourly wage he currently makes as a New Boston police sergeant, which makes for an annual income of approximately $43,000. He said friends of his on the Londonderry Police Department had urged him to apply to that agency, where he could make $15,000 more than his current annual income starting as a patrol officer.

“I would hate to lose someone who is very valuable in this community over a pay issue,” Krajenka said, noting that as a sergeant Kochanek currently serves as the second in command on the New Boston police force, as well as filling all the duties a lieutenant would perform on a police department.

Selectmen Chairman Dave Woodbury said the town should compare its own police salary structure to other departments’ to avoid losing personnel on the basis of salary.

“If New Boston is the subject of being raided by other towns, then that’s something we need to respond to,” Woodbury said.

To support his claim that Kochanek deserved higher pay, Krajenka presented selectmen with a study looking at the pay on police departments of towns similar in size to New Boston. He said he now had pay figures for 11 of the 25 similar-sized towns.

The discussion then veered toward a more broad critique of town communication. Krajenka said he and Reynolds might be working separately on gathering the same data, which would constitute a waste of man hours.

Also, Krajenka said he had not been allowed to express himself completely at the town’s monthly department head meetings.

“My feeling is, as department heads, we get stifled when we try to discuss things,” Krajenka said. “All the things I bring up seem to get tabled in some way.”

Circling back to the issue of Kochanek’s pay, selectmen asked if an immediate $4 increase would keep the sergeant on the job. Kochanek said it would.

By unanimous vote, selectmen raised Kochanek’s pay by $4 an hour, upping his hourly wages to $24.95, an increase of $8,320 per year.

Kochanek said he appreciated the support he received from fellow town employees, and the words of praise afforded him by the chief and the selectmen.

“It feels good to know people back you. It’s flattering,” Kochanek said.

A resident of Milford, Kochanek has been on the New Boston police force since March of 2003, and has been a sergeant for a year and a half. He teaches the department’s DARE program to local school students, as well as bicycle safety and firearm safety, and participates in the Officer Friendly program, among other activities.