AUBURN — The controversy over who will answer when local people dial 911 goes on.
County commissioners have tossed out a September 2010 vote to merge Androscoggin County’s emergency dispatching center with Lewiston-Auburn 911, a move that would have created a single hub for the county’s emergency calls.
Instead, commissioners are once again listening to proposals. And they’re hearing the same arguments.
Lewiston-Auburn 911 has proposed the creation of the Androscoggin Regional Communications Center. It would operate in the current L-A center on Minot Avenue in Auburn and handle 911 calls countywide.
However, there are plans to update the current county center in Auburn and Lisbon officials are preparing their own proposal to present Oct. 26.
And lines in the decade-old controversy are once again divided by who will pay.
“I think we’re back at that point again,” said Phil Crowell, Auburn’s police chief. Were the county’s emergency dispatching done at the city’s center, Auburn’s budget would save at least $150,000 a year. If small town dispatching stays with the county, fees would stay low for towns such as Turner.
Last year, Turner paid about $3,800 beyond its county tax for dispatching services, Town Manager Eva Leavitt said. Every consolidation plan has included exponentially higher fees, money that could translate to higher taxes in most of the county’s 14 towns.
The new proposals particularly annoy Randall Greenwood, the county commission chairman from Wales. He called the L-A 911 proposal “strictly a takeover.”
The sides seemed so close a year ago.
In September 2010, as the state was getting ready to enforce a plan that would force all 911 calls in Androscoggin County go to a single place, the county and the cities agreed to merge.
They applied for $50,000 in state aid to make the switch. But the money dried up.
Commissioners also had caveats on the deal.
Though they supported the concept of a single 911 answering and dispatch center, their support was contingent upon countywide control of the new center and an offer of tiers of services to meet both city and rural needs. There was also a provision that costs be divided “fairly and equitably.”
The new proposal from Lewiston-Auburn 911 calls for a nine-member board consisting of equal parts Lewiston, Auburn and small town representatives.
“My only agreement was that it had to be a county controlled service,” Greenwood said Monday.
The new plan also doesn’t specify tiers of service, something pleaded for by small town leaders.
Crowell argued Monday that any agency would benefit from what L-A 911 offers.
“What is it that we offer that you don’t want?” he asked.
Minot Fire Chief Stephen French agrees that subtle changes in service might be helped. But he argues that some city needs, like giving dispatchers the ability to call individual firehouses rather than whole towns makes little difference in towns with one station.
“If you gave it to us, we couldn’t use it,” he said. “It’s frustrating, and I am anxious to arrive at an equitable solution.”
County Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte said he supports L-A’s plan. He believes that dispatching for any town ought to come with a fee.
And the merger would ensure the fewest transfer of calls, he said. Especially, if someone calls from a cellphone, people can be transferred twice before they reach someone who will send an ambulance for help.
“That’s an awful lot of people touching a 911 call that could save someone’s life,” he said. The transfers take time and create more opportunities to make a mistake.
Commissioner Elaine Makas believes an answer will be found before year’s end.
“I want a solution to this that is satisfactory for everybody,” she said. She plans to listen to Brooks’ presentation next week and anyone else that comes forward. However, time is running out, in part because the current equipment used by the Sheriff’s Department is aging and needs to be replaced.
“Something needs to happen,” she said. “We don’t want to jeopardize anybody’s safety.”
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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