AUBURN – After two years of figuring a way to merge emergency dispatching across Androscoggin County, the work ought to be nearing an end.

So, wrap it up, county commissioners said Thursday.

“I know a lot of good work has been done,” Commissioner Elaine Makas said. “We want to rein in the committee. We want a final report.”

In a letter sent Thursday, the three-member commission formally requested that the Androscoggin County Combined Dispatch Study Committee issue a report by the end of April. It also asked the group to host a public forum at the county building in Auburn by that date.

Their aim: To share the committee’s work with the public.

Commissioners created the group in 2006 to examine what ought to be done in response to a state mandate meant to shrink the number of places people call for help when they have an emergency.

The job is splintered across Androscoggin County now. Lewiston-Auburn uses one center. Lisbon and Livermore Falls have their own. The county does the rest.

In part, the county is running out of time.

The county equipment is aging. The facility is too small. It may not survive another two years of debate without a resolution.

Money has been set aside.

In the 2009 spending package passed Wednesday by the Budget Committee and finalized Thursday by the commission, $270,000 was set aside for a new communications center.

The money awaits a direction.

The dispatch committee has yet to make any recommendations. Talks have broken down over mostly who would run the center and how it ought to be paid for. That includes one-time costs for a new center and ongoing costs.

In the letter to the committee, the commissioners hoped changes on its board might lead people to reconsider putting a new center under the county’s “reformed and professional” oversight.

“With three new commissioners in place, we wish to put in writing our commitment to playing a leadership role to reach a final resolution with towns and cities to create a plan to provide combined dispatch services in Androscoggin County,” commissioners wrote in the letter.