LIVERMORE FALLS – More than 300 voters turned out for a Monday night special town meeting and voted to keep dispatch and waste disposal services in town.
Six other warrant articles had not been decided as of 9:45 p.m. Monday.
Nearly a month ago, attendees at the annual town meeting voted down articles in the town budget and denied funds to pay for dispatch, police, waste disposal, town administration, library and capital improvements. Without funds to operate, the town shut down on July 1.
Residents rejected the budget in June because they were angry that selectmen planned to shut down the town’s emergency dispatch service and waste-transfer station. Selectmen had hoped to save the town nearly $160,000 by farming those services out to Jay and the county, and use the saved money for capital improvements.
But residents believed the choice should fall to them, not selectmen, and many felt strongly the services should stay in Jay.
Monday night, they made their wishes reality.
The biggest discussion revolved around the dispatch service. Livermore Falls already pays Androscoggin County enough to cover dispatch, and 911 calls are already answered by the county before being forwarded to town dispatch.
But during Monday night’s discussion, even police Chief Ernest Steward spoke against the proposed change. In the selectmen’s plan, Androscoggin County would handle police calls and Jay would handle fire and ambulance calls. Steward said he worried what would happen without a central Livermore Falls dispatcher knowing where everybody is at all times.
Some people, like Dean Norris, said they’d favor switching over if they could be sure they’d save the money without losing quality. “I’m on the fence,” Norris said. “If we can get equivalent service and save $150,000, sure we can use the money elsewhere.”
In the end, that vote was close – 165 for keeping dispatch in town, and 153 for farming it out.
Residents voted resoundingly to keep the dump in town. Voter after voter stood to speak in favor of the transfer station – or against the selectmen. A few said it wasn’t fair to cut dump manager Fred Nadeau’s position. Others said the money wasted driving to and from the Jay dump would make the approximately $50,000 saved by the town a moot point.
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