The State House is reviewing a bill that would authorize Hooksett voters to increase the number of police commissioners from three to five.

Because the commission was created at a state level in 1975, legislators must approve a bill that would put the question before voters in May.

In online forums and during public meetings, a group of residents have called for top-to-bottom change in light of last year’s county sheriff’s investigation over school safety and the controversial termination of an officer. Town documents show the Hooksett Police Department paid more than $175,000 in legal expenses during those incidents.

Fred Bishop, a former police commissioner who has publicly supported Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis, testified against Bill 1206 on Tuesday, Jan. 26, during a hearing before the Municipal and County Government Committee.

“There’s a small group of people who’ve been very vocal,” Bishop said. “It’s all to get new commissioners appointed who will want to fire the chief of police.”

State Rep. David Boutin (R-Hooksett), who is also a town councilor, filed the bill after the Hooksett Town Council voted unanimously, twice, to support the legislation.

“This is enabling legislation to allow folks in Hooksett to have a voice on this subject,” Boutin said. “Without its passage, they cannot have a debate and vote on this issue.”

Boutin said he supports increasing the commission to create better representation for Hooksett’s increasing population, which has nearly tripled since the commission’s inception.

“It’s a healthy evolution,” Boutin said.

During a Town Council discussion about the legislation on Sept. 9, 2009, one day after a popular police officer was fired, Boutin told councilors he hadn’t filed the bill at the time because Agrafiotis told him privately he would, “Hang Hooksett’s laundry out,” at the State House if he did so. Agrafiotis did not testify at the State House and refused comment for this article.

Police Commission Chairman Joanne McHugh, appointed to the board in July, said enlarging the commission would better serve public meeting laws and quorum issues.

Currently, if two commissioners bump into each other at the grocery store, for example, they can’t talk about commission business because two-thirds of the board is present.

“We don’t avoid each other, but I think we all know that it is not the time to conduct business,” McHugh said.

State Rep. Frank Kotowski (R-Hooksett) said he signed onto the legislation to properly represent the views of his constituents, but does not personally support it.

“It will not resolve any of the issues we’re trying to overcome,” Kotowski said. “I believe they need to do their work, like every other commission in the state does, with three members.”

Most area communities that use police commissions have three members, except Manchester, which has five.

Lucien Levesque, chairman of the three-member Police Commission in Rochester, which has more than twice the population of Hooksett, said his commission is involved in personnel decisions and standard operating procedures. Unlike Hooksett, the Rochester police chief reviews his budget with the city manager before moving it forward, while Hooksett’s chief reviews it with the Police Commission.

“Right now, we’re talking about whether officers should be able to have beards or not,” Levesque said. “We’re doing pretty well right now.”

The Hooksett police budget is just one issue that has put the commission under a microscope in recent months. Agrafiotis drew criticism from town councilors last month when they discovered his executive secretary takes home more than $73,000 a year.

Town Councilor George Longfellow said a lot has changed since he served on the commission in the 1980s.

“I think it’s in trouble,” he said. “We have no control. Once they set a budget and make (officer) appointments we have nothing to do with it. We’ve gone to legal and tried to get some control, but we can’t.”

The 82-year-old councilor says the commission was first established when the town only had four full-time officers, more than 20 part-time officers and needed stronger oversight. It now has 24 full-time officers.

“To me, they’re (police commissioners) in denial. They don’t think they have a problem,” Longfellow said. “We’re spending all kinds of money.”