By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Whittling down emergency dispatch services in Androscoggin County from four agencies to one won’t be cheap, dispatch officials learned Thursday.

“There will be cost savings, but you can’t expect to see them right away,” said John Ardagna, general manager of the Massachusetts-based All-Comm Technologies Inc.

Ardagna presented All-Comm’s study of consolidating all Androscoggin County emergency dispatch services to city, county and town officials and fire and police chiefs from every corner of the county.

Consolidating would require spending about $663,000 on new radio and computer equipment and workstations for at least four more dispatchers. The group would also need 6,437 square feet of space, almost double the size of Lewiston/Auburn 911’s 3,269 square feet of offices below Auburn’s Central Fire station.

“That facility is already filled to capacity,” Ardagna said. “You can easily bump into something there and just make a mess of everything. It’s obvious they are out of room.”

Maine 911 call-answering centers are facing a state mandate to reduce their numbers drastically by October. According to a new state law, call centers for Lisbon, Androscoggin County and Lewiston-Auburn will have to combine operations by October.

Local officials began discussing combining dispatch services last fall. The three agencies currently take all of the 911 calls and, with the Livermore Falls Police Communication Center, dispatch all emergency workers in Androscoggin County.

“It makes sense, if we have to combine the 911 calls’ answering services, to look at combining everything,” said Terry Delano, L-A 911 systems manager.

All-Comm began working on the study in January. It cost $10,000, paid for with part of a federal grant, according to L-A 911 Director Andy D’Eramo.

Ardagna still suggested that the services be built around the Lewiston-Auburn system, which has newer equipment that’s easier to expand than systems in any of the three other call centers.

But emergency officials said they’ve done almost all they can.

“I think now we need to hand this off the policy makers, the people who control the purse-strings,” said Auburn Fire Chief Wayne Werts. City councilors, town selectmen and county commissioners are the ones who will have to decide how to proceed.