FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to sign a contract with Information Management Corp. to provide a computer-aided dispatch and record-keeping program for the sheriff and dispatch departments.
The $99,260 cost will come from a 2009 Federal Emergency Management Agency Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant.
In relation to the program, commissioners also approved a three-year contract with FairPoint Communications to provide Internet service at a business class delivery speed for $259 a month.
Commissioners made a previous step to move the new communications system closer to reality in August, when they approved a one-year service agreement with Somerset County for information technology specialists and maintenance at a cost of $68,000.
A Somerset County technology team has built an infrastructure, including several servers, and will share their services and expertise with Franklin County.
Somerset County will house the database that both Franklin County and Farmington Police Department will be able to access through high-speed Internet.
Farmington police have an option to buy into the IMC program for $32,964 in conjunction with Franklin County. If Farmington was to stand alone and buy the new program, the cost would be $65,000, IMC spokesman Dennis Noe said.
Farmington voters approved $80,000 in April and part of that was for IMC licensing, training and first-year maintenance, Farmington Deputy Chief Shane Cote said after the meeting. The remainder will be used to build a new network for the Police Department at its new station.
The IMC program for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and Franklin County Communications Center is anticipated to be online next spring, Noe said.
Other police agencies that have the IMC system in the county are Carrabassett Valley, Jay, Rangeley and University of Maine at Farmington. The fire departments and Wilton Police Department do not have the program. Fire departments opted out this round due to the cost.
Those agencies will still be dispatched by Franklin County but would not be included in the record-keeping management program.
New Wilton police Chief Heidi Wilcox said a previous chief had opted out of going with the IMC program but the town is looking at reconsidering it.
Noe said other agencies could be added in the future.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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