AUBURN – The County Commission will send a letter inviting every town manager, mayor and board of selectmen chairperson in Androscoggin County to a meeting to discuss ways to consolidate and reduce costs.

After the commission meeting adjourned Thursday, Chairman Elmer Berry informally proposed the joint meeting to find ways to save money for both the county and the towns. The letter from the commission will not be official.

Berry attended a meeting of the Maine County Commission Taskforce and the Maine Municipal Association earlier this week where issues that included the number of fire stations within a five-mile area and the number of school superintendents in any one county were discussed.

“They want us to make a laundry list of things we think we could do and they will make a list of things they think we could do,” Berry said.

Berry said he would like the town officials who attend the meeting to tour the courthouse to see where funding for repairs is needed. “We have 12 obsolete boilers,” Berry said, adding that two new energy-efficient boilers could replace the 12 with a savings in oil consumption.

One of the issues Berry said should be discussed in a joint meeting of county and municipal officials is countywide emergency dispatching, which some towns are now onboard with. The issue was discussed in the commission meeting.

During the commission meeting, Lisbon Police Chief David Brooks said that during a meeting about countywide dispatching in August, officials from both Auburn and Lewiston said Lisbon was onboard with a countywide system. The police chief told the commission that any such statement should be made by officials from Lisbon. It must be “by Lisbon people, not by another governmental entity,” Brooks said.

He said comments by officials of other municipalities caused a panic with some town employees. “I have people in Lisbon that are extremely concerned that they may not be coming back to a job in another year,” Brooks said.

Establishment of a countywide system is a lengthy process. “It’s not something that can be done over night. It’s going to be a long, tedious process. It could take years,” Sheriff Ronald Gagnon said.

Brooks added that there is no room for expansion at current county emergency dispatching facilities. “Someday, down the road, a county communications center is going to happen. We have a long ways to go,” Brooks said.



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