FARMINGTON — The county has received an offer to use available space in the former primary school in Phillips as a dispatch center.
The one-floor building was built in 1951 and a third of it is used as the town office, Phillips Town Manager Elaine Hubbard said Tuesday afternoon. She said there is 2,250 square feet available, which does not include bathrooms.
Franklin County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday morning to have the dispatch Building Committee look at the site to see if it could be renovated into a dispatch center for less than $629,000 and bring back a recommendation. The committee has no financial budget to determine what needs to be done.
Commissioners voted 2-1, with Gary McGrane of Jay opposed, on Dec. 20, 2011, to send the dispatch Building Committee’s proposal for a new building to voters in June. The committee and the county Budget Committee, made up of selectmen from around the county, supported the new stand-alone building.
Sheriff Dennis Pike told commissioners Tuesday that Phillips Selectman John Stinchfield contacted him about the space. The building is on Reynolds Avenue behind the Paul G. Whittemore building where the Phillips Library is located.
The last time he saw the building, Pike said, it was in disrepair. It does have heat but doesn’t have air conditioning.
“It would be a great deal of work,” Pike said, to make it into an updated dispatch center but it does have adequate space.
Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong said it is an old building and it would take a lot of money to bring it up to the quality and standards a dispatch center needs.
Wilton has also offered a former school but making it usable was not feasible. Pike said he was appreciative of the towns’ offers of buildings.
Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon said he had concerns about the telephones and moving dispatch to Phillips. The committee has tried to stay in the same location as the current dispatch center in the Sheriff’s Department building on County Way, Hardy said.
Pike said the area in Phillips is in a valley which could hamper communications.
There are some definite issues to explore, including the possibility of asbestos removal, he said.
Chairman McGrane of Jay asked if there was a cost estimate for renovating the Phillips building. None have been obtained, but given the age of the building, Pike said, he expected it to be high.
Barker said some Building Committee members have looked at the building and did not recommend that it be used.
County custodian Greg Roux, also on the Building Committee, said he had a feeling they are talking about a complete gutting of the building and probably having to remove asbestos.
It would be a great alternative site if the building referendum fails in June, Roux said.
McGrane said he doesn’t want to go to referendum and have it fail, and they bring it back and it fails again. Voters in the county overwhelmingly rejected a $4.6 million building project, which included an addition for the current dispatch center, in November 2010.
“I hate to see the project fail again,” McGrane said. Given the economic times people are not willing to spend money, he said. “I think it is appropriate to look at all offers and avenues out there.”
Hardy said there have been other offers of buildings in Farmington that could be looked at.
Barker said the Building Committee has been working on getting a new dispatch center that is updated and secure for the past four years. On Dec. 20, commissioners voted to support the Building Committee’s recommendation, Barker said, and commissioners should stick to it.
If the project continues to be put off and more ideas come in, then dispatch may never get the space needed. The people he has talked to, Barker said, support a new building.
“We ought to let a dead horse lie,” he said, and go along with the Building Committee’s recommendation.
Hardy said he saw no problem with getting back to the Building Committee and having members give a recommendation to commissioners.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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