AUBURN — After two hours of reports and opinions on the costs of answering the phone when someone in Androscoggin County calls for help, municipal leaders from across the region left Wednesday’s County Commission workshop wondering whether anything was decided.
“I am confused now even more than when I walked in the room,” said Mark Bosse, Poland’s Fire and Rescue chief. “When we leave here today, which way are we going?”
The three-member commission was split.
Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte said he planned to call for a formal vote at the group’s next meeting, planned for Nov. 2. Chairman Randall Greenwood said a vote was unlikely, and Commissioner Elaine Makas declined to make any statement, citing time needed to think about what she heard at the meeting.
Time is growing short.
Commissioners are due to submit a budget for the coming year by Tuesday, Nov. 1. That budget will include money for operating and upgrading the county’s emergency dispatch center, Greenwood said.
It’s a center that might not exist after 2012, if changes are made.
At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Lisbon Police Chief David Brooks presented a 33-page argument for closing the county’s dispatch center and moving most of its duties to Lisbon.
It could be done at less cost than other plans; it would retain all staff and Lisbon has plenty of room, Brooks said.
Investing in the aging county building in Auburn, for which leaders are considering millions of dollars in renovations, is unwise, he said.
“To me, that’s like putting a Band-Aid on major surgery,” Brooks said.
Another plan would move those duties to Lewiston-Auburn 911, beneath the Auburn Fire Department’s Central Station.
The center can absorb the county’s work, said Phyllis Jensen, executive director of Lewiston-Auburn 911.
“We have adequate space,” Jensen said. “We have adequate personnel. Our technology is fine. We are not falling apart.”
Commissioners asked leaders if they were willing to meet and work through costs for the county’s 14 communities.
Several said they would, but they needed more information from the commission.
Wednesday’s meeting saw few decisions and no vote.
Lewiston City Manager Ed Barrett said he, too, was waiting for something firm from the commissioners.
“I think you folks need to decide what it is you’re going to pay for,” Barrett said.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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