Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)

LEWISTON — Androscoggin County commissioners ended a decade of debate Wednesday, voting 2-1 to maintain the ability to answer emergency calls and dispatch help in a county-run communications center.

All three commissioners — Beth Bell, Elaine Makas and Chairman Randall Greenwood — argued that citizens are safer when both jobs are done at a central communications hub.

Together, they rejected a plan by the town of Lisbon that would have closed the county’s communication center, sent its dispatching to the Lisbon center and sent the call-answering function to one of the state’s Public Safety Answering Points, known as PSAPs.

The plan, based on savings forecasts by officials in Lisbon, was widely endorsed by the county’s small towns, including Greene, Sabattus and Durham.

Lisbon Town Council Chairman Fern Larochelle called it “a heck of a plan.”

“It was a plan that not only saved the other communities money, but also, for the first time, showed savings for Lewiston-Auburn over a long period of time,” Larochelle said.

Commissioners said they didn’t agree with Lisbon’s numbers and worried about the transfer of calls it would create.

“I think it’s important that, whenever possible, the person answering that 911 call is also the person dispatching the response,” Commissioner Greenwood said. “It’s a safety issue.”

In voting for the county option, he and Makas argued that adopting an alternative plan — sending county dispatching to Lewiston-Auburn 911 — would have splintered the system worse because the small towns would have broken away rather than work with the cities.

Bell maintained her belief that the county would be best-served by the cities’ communications center, which is the biggest in the county.

“I’m the lone soldier on L-A,” she said.

More than 50 people listened as commissioners talked openly about their frustration with local politics and the mounting pressure they felt as the decision loomed.

“If you sent us a letter. If you contacted us. If you spoke to us over the past couple of years. I assure you, we have taken what you said seriously,” Makas told the group.

Bell said she tried her best to put aside politics, learn about dispatching and make a decision that would best serve the people.

“I don’t have an agenda,” she said. “I don’t have a political plan. I don’t care if I get re-elected. I care about doing this job and doing it well.”

The decision-making is not over, though.

Before the commission can move forward on updates to the county’s communications center, they need permission to spend the money. The group plans to recall the county Budget Committee to release almost $350,000 in savings.

That committee could meet within 15 days, Greenwood said.

The commission must also decide on a fee schedule that will accompany 911 answering. For the first time, individual towns in the county will be levied a fee for the service. The towns would have the option of contracting with another 911 center, but the fee will be as low or lower than anyone else’s, Makas said.

Mechanic Falls Town Manager John Hawley listened to the entire discussion. Afterward, he didn’t know what to tell people in his town, he said.

“We don’t have enough details at this point,” he said. “We have more questions than comments.”

Minot fire Chief Stephen French said he believed the commissioners have more answers than they let on, particularly since they unanimously requested money from the Budget Committee with to- the-penny amounts.

However, he was grateful for some resolution to the dispatch issue.

“I’m relieved that they made a decision,” he said.

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