Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)

FARMINGTON — A series of public hearings on a proposed $598,300 new dispatch center for Franklin County will begin Thursday in Kingfield.

Franklin County commissioners, the county Dispatch Building Committee and the county Budget Committee support building the new center on county property on County Way in Farmington. That’s where the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and Communications Center and Franklin County Detention Center are located.

The stand-alone building would be 2,200-square-feet and would be constructed directly across from the Sheriff’s Department on County Way. Dispatchers currently dispatch out of that building.

The public hearings begin at 7 p.m. April 26 at Webster Town Hall, 38 School St., in Kingfield. A second one will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 3, at the Franklin County Courthouse in the Superior Courtroom on the second floor, at 140 Main St., in Farmington. The last hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, at the Jay Municipal Building at 340 Main St., in Jay.

Voters in all county towns will decide Tuesday, June 12, if the county should issue general obligation bonds in a principal amount not to exceed $598,300 to finance the project.

The bond would be issued over a 15-year term. There would be annual principal payments and semi-annual interest payments over the term and an average interest rate of 3.81 percent for a total of $189,479.76 interest, according to the treasurer’s certificate.

The total debt service for the project would be $787,779.76.

The certificate does not prohibit the county from seeking a lower interest rate if voters approve the project.

The Dispatch Building Committee cut the original proposed cost of the building by $31,000 to make it less than $600,000.

The project would include an improved site work and three dispatch consoles with room for one more.

The existing space has two and a half consoles.

The proposal also calls for one bathroom with room to make another in a janitors closet if necessary.

Bid contingency and construction contingency accounts totaling $43,300 is available to allow for changes, if necessary.

The building would be built on a slab with a 4-foot frost wall around it. It would have vinyl siding.

The building would also be more energy efficient and considerably more secure than the existing center, he said. There would be two doors that dispatchers would have to press buzzers for to let people into the actual center.

The building also would be built using insulated core foam that gives a R-38 insulation value compared to R-19 when using traditional 2-foot by 6-foot framing.

If more space is needed for another department such as the county emergency management agency, the building would be constructed so it could be easily added to.

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