By Leslie Bridgers, staff writer, Kennebec Journal
Original publication date: Nov. 5

Hallowell, Maine — The state should cover some costs for local dispatch centers to consolidate with regional 911 call centers, the Public Utilities Commission recommends.

The commission believes getting local dispatch centers to consolidate voluntarily with one of 17 regional call centers would reduce costs and improve public safety.

Many municipalities are reluctant to give up control of their dispatching services, however, and will need incentives to do so, the commission wrote in a letter to legislators.

The PUC made a final recommendation Monday to the Legislature on how to consolidate the number of 911 call centers in the state from 26 to 17 and improve emergency dispatching services.

All emergency calls in the state are answered at designated 911 call centers, called public-safety answering points. Many are then transferred to local dispatchers who alert police, fire and rescue departments.

Though consolidating 911 call centers saves the state money, the commission said, public safety would improve only if the local dispatch centers consolidate as well. Transferring calls is inefficient and creates opportunities for human and technological errors, the PUC said.

The final consolidation plan varied little from an initial one released in August, which recommended one 911 call center per county, with an additional center in Portland. Changes in the final version include having no call center in Aroostook County and allowing a third in Cumberland County that would take calls coming from the interstate highway.

Also in the plan, all 911 calls in Kennebec County would be answered by the Central Maine Regional Communications Center in Augusta. That suggestion was criticized by towns and cities in the county, including Waterville and Augusta, that use other call centers because of past service problems and higher rates at the Augusta center. The plan calls on that center to resolve those issues.

Oakland Town Manager Peter Nielsen said Thursday that he wasn’t confident the rates would decrease, and he’s let local legislators know that.

Emergency calls made in Oakland are answered by Somerset County Regional Communications Center in Skowhegan and transferred to dispatchers in Waterville. The new plan would have them answered in Augusta.

“(The legislators) were sympathetic to our concerns,” Nielsen said. “I hope they will carry through.”

Purchasing new software and changing radio frequencies are some of the upfront costs of consolidation, said Maria Jacques, director of the PUC’s Emergency Services Communication Bureau. Those are the costs the commission is recommending the state help cover, she said.

In addition, public-safety officials said at a hearing in September that consolidation would shift other costs away from the state and onto communities.

Scarborough, for example, provides dispatching services for Buxton and Old Orchard Beach.

If the town consolidates with Portland, as recommended, it would lose revenue from the other two towns and would have to start paying Portland for the service.

“It’s not fair. Somebody has to say, ‘Enough,’” said Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton.

The new plan would be the second 911 call center consolidation effort in the past decade. The first round was initiated in 2003, when the state had 48 public-safety answering points. Cost and service issues led the Legislature to ask the PUC to come up with another plan.

The Joint Standing Committee on Utilities and Energy will consider the plan during the next legislative session, which starts in December.

About the Author
Contact Leslie Bridgers at 207/861-9252 or [email protected].

Posted with permission from the Kennebec Journal.