The Hudson Budget Committee met on October 8 to discuss the Hudson Police Department’s proposed budget for the 2027-2028 fiscal year, including a warrant article that would ask voters to approve funding for a second full-time prosecutor.
Committee members spent much of the discussion examining whether additional legal support staff, such as paralegals, could help address the increasing workload at a lower cost than adding another prosecutor.
“You have a witness advocate, and you also have a part-time clerk, and one other clerk,” noted Committee Chair James Lawrence. “Are those clerks acting as paralegals on the staff currently?”
Chief of Police David Cayot stated that the clerks “are doing a lot of things a paralegal would do,” but are not technically classified as paralegals. The Police Department currently has no paralegals on staff.
“In all honesty, it probably would not hurt to have paralegals,” admitted Cayot, who said he had consulted with an attorney regarding what adding such a position might entail beyond salary considerations. “Any time we could get extra help in there, a paralegal could be useful.”
The discussion was tied to Warrant Article 7, which would add a second full-time prosecutor to the Police Department. The proposal comes at a time when the Board of Selectmen has asked departments to pursue level-funded budgets whenever possible due to concerns about rising costs and the impact on taxpayers.
“This wants to hire a full-time prosecutor, but you already have a full-time prosecutor on staff, and I was surprised to see in your labor breakdown that you had no paralegals to help,” said Lawrence. “To your knowledge, has anyone looked at potentially hiring paralegals to help deal with some of the increased workload for some of your cases? I know you probably don’t have this tonight, but I would be interested in seeing what the difference in cost would be between hiring paralegals versus another full-time prosecutor.”
Cayot said he was unaware of any prior proposals to hire paralegals, although he noted that Police Prosecutor Nicole Clay may have explored the concept.
“I know the reason we’re looking at the second prosecutor is for the in-court stuff that is going on,” said Cayot. “It is getting to a point where she can only be in one place at a time, and sometimes they have two different cases in two different courtrooms, and she’s trying to go back and forth between them.”
He added that Clay is already handling “far more casework” than many prosecutors in surrounding communities.
Deputy Chief Steven McElhinney agreed that while support staff could assist with preparation work, they would not solve the larger problem.
“The paralegals wouldn’t be able to really significantly affect that, because obviously they’re not prosecuting cases,” he said. “Certainly, with preparation, that could be something to explore, but it doesn’t satisfy the need for a second person in a courtroom actually negotiating cases or trying cases.”
The proposed prosecutor position will ultimately be decided by voters if the warrant article is placed on the March ballot.
The next meeting of the Hudson Budget Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Meeting Room.