LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen voted Tuesday night to support the Dispatch Committee’s report filed last November.

The report looked at three options: staying with full-time local dispatch, having some done by the sheriff’s department, or contracting with Jay.

The committee, formed following last year’s annual June town meeting, had voted 6-2 in support of the report that detailed its work but made no firm recommendation.

However, the majority wanted to keep dispatching local. They saw disadvantages in going elsewhere, even if there could be financial savings in either option.

Town Manager Alan Gove confirmed Wednesday that the board’s intent was to keep local dispatch, at least for the time being. He said he was not sure if any alternatives would be proposed at town meeting.

Selectmen had delayed any action on the report until a proposal was received from the Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office, since the committee had not obtained figures from it.

A letter from Capt. Raymond LaFrance indicated the Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office could do police dispatching on the midnight to 8 a.m. shift at no charge. The town would be responsible for providing nearly $9,000 in radio equipment, however.

Jay had agreed to do ambulance and fire dispatching on that shift, Gove said, for $3,500 or less, annually. A call box would be available locally for people arriving at the station with emergency situations.

Gove suggested the first year savings would be $21,000, due to the equipment purchase and in following years it would be $30,500.

The board also agreed 3-1 to settle the long running dispute with Peter Riordan on taxes he felt were excessive, refunding $24 for 2002 and $24.45 for 2003. A previous year had already been adjusted.

The Independence Day Committee was granted permission to use the library auditorium for its meetings without charge.

Gove said the state was seriously looking at closing the local court as a cost savings. It might be beneficial to the state, he indicated, but it would be costly to the town, which would lose $27,000 a year in rent.

Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. also said he estimates it would cost $16,000 more for his officers to travel to Lewiston to court. Besides just travel expenses would be the hours lost as officers waited for action and the need to hire replacements for them, he explained. With the court upstairs from the police station, those expenses do not occur, he said.

Steward also said that going to Farmington would be somewhat easier, but both of those facilities are crowded, he said.

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