FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners accepted the resignation of Deputy Clerk/Deputy Treasurer Charisse Keach on Wednesday.

They also approved hiring a temporary full-time office worker starting Oct. 17 to help until her replacement is hired. Keach’s last day is Oct. 14.

County Clerk Julie Magoon said she has received some good applications for the position but expects to need the services of the temp agency for nearly a month.

Motivated by challenge and change, Keach said she wants to broaden her horizons and experience a new community while she’s still young.

After moving to Farmington when she was 2 and being a resident for 46 years, Keach has accepted a position as treasurer of the town of Buxton, an 80-mile commute one way from Farmington.

A move may be in the future but not until her son graduates from high school, she said.

Keach has served the county for three years after 19 years in banking,  including 10 serving as manager of a credit union in Skowhegan. She has also worked in insurance and for Western Maine Community Action.

While working and raising her children, Keach also earned an associate degree in applied business.

Commissioners commended her work.

In other business, commissioners rejected bids for three new vehicles for Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. Each bid came in above the $75,000 in the budget for department vehicles.

The commissioners and Sheriff Dennis Pike agreed to forgo these bids and seek bids for one vehicle, an SUV, and seek the other two vehicles at a later date.

The SUV is preferred because it provides more space for carrying equipment, Pike said. The three vehicles are up for replacement in the department’s replacement program.

Commissioners opened bids Wednesday for the three vehicles for $82,950, for $84,447 and for $82,899.

The prices have increased since the budget process, Pike said.

Commissioners also agreed to a request from Stan Wheeler, chairman of the Dispatch Center Building Committee, to send a couple members to a convention of the Association of Public-Safety Communication Officers at the Samoset Resort on the Ocean in Rockport on Oct. 24.

The one-day registration cost is $69 each, Wheeler said. Pike agreed to provide transportation.

Wheeler told commissioners that Stephan Bunker recommended a couple dispatchers attend to talk with vendors about office equipment for the new center.

Commissioner Fred Hardy inquired how much equipment was needed.

Wheeler said some, not much. There is a need for good workstations, he said. The committee is considering stations that rise so that dispatchers can stand while they work and not have to sit their entire 12-hour shift.

The committee is attempting to do its homework and provide a final figure that would dispatch to turn the key, walk in and start, he said. That may change once the amounts are known.

Commissioners agreed to send dispatchers/committee members Wheeler and Tom Marble to the convention but then amended their decision providing for a third person, a supervisor or someone in administration, to also attend.

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