LEWISTON — Cost won’t be the deciding factor when a committee of Androscoggin County police and fire chiefs file their report on how to expand emergency dispatch services, committee Chairman David Brooks says.

“We are the users of the dispatch services, as fire and police chiefs, and our sole purpose has always been to find out what is the best service for the residents of the county,” Lisbon police Chief Brooks said Tuesday. “Costs, how to pay for all this, that will be up to the politicians. They can decide that. But at our level, as chiefs, we want to give direction on what services we think are best.”

The Androscoggin  Regional Communication Center Committee is reviewing three options for upgrading the county dispatch service: replacing equipment in the current location, moving the dispatch service to Lisbon or having the county take over operations at Lewiston-Auburn
911.

Auburn police Chief Phil Crowell and Lewiston fire Chief Paul LeClair, two other members of the committee, updated Lewiston city councilors on the committee’s work Tuesday night.

Brooks said he was concerned that Lewiston and Auburn and LA-911 are getting more attention than they deserve.

“This is not a Lewiston-Auburn initiative,” Brooks said. “It didn’t start in Lewiston-Auburn, and they are not the only ones involved. This has to be the plan that works best for everyone, not just Lewiston-Auburn.”

Androscoggin County, which dispatches emergency calls for most small
towns, is due for an equipment upgrade, estimated to cost between
$200,000 and $300,000. The county has set aside $230,000 in a capital fund to pay for those upgrades.

Lewiston-Auburn and the town of Lisbon operate their own dispatch centers. Brooks said he proposed last year having the county and Lisbon combine services, using Lisbon’s dispatch center as headquarters.

“We have room, right now, to accommodate the county,” Brooks said. “We have two stations open, and all that we would need is the computer equipment.”

That’s enough to dispatch emergency services for all of the towns currently served by Androscoggin County, but not Lewiston-Auburn 911, Brooks said.

County commissioners  formed the committee to look at that option last fall, but soon added Lewiston-Auburn 911 to the mix. According to a third proposal, the county would move into the LA-911 offices on Minot Avenue, taking over existing computer and radio equipment and space. The county would likely also take over administration of the operation and dissolve Lewiston-Auburn 911.

That’s why Brooks is concerned, he said. A previous effort to combine dispatch services failed when Androscoggin County’s small towns voted against it. Lewiston-Auburn 911 currently spends about $1.9 million each year on dispatch services, while the county
spends about $620,000. 

“They just refused to accept the burden of paying for Lewiston-Auburn’s service and seeing the county’s budget balloon up $2 million,” Brooks said. “That’s not how this started, this time. It started looking at the users of the county’s current service, a $600,000 question. But it’s becoming something bigger.”

Brooks said the committee is scheduled to meet Thursday at the Auburn police station. He expects the group to present its final report to county commissioners near the end of February.

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