FARMINGTON — Selectmen Tuesday night, Jan. 24, confirmed the appointment of Tammy Bureau as the town’s new treasurer.
“We’re very excited to have her start here Feb. 13,” Town Manager Christian Waller said. “She brings a wealth of accounting experience and quite a bit of knowledge about grants as well.”
In 1997 Bureau started as a counter clerk in Lewiston. “I worked there for 21 years, moved up to deputy chief tax collector, investment officer, excise agent, a little bit of everything,” she noted. “I moved over to the school department in Lewiston, been there four years in October, managing their grants. We have upwards of 90-plus grants that I take care of including the huge COVID [19] grants that have been the nightmare of my life for the past two years now.
“I missed the municipal side, so I am back on that side. I’m happy to be here.”
Bureau lives in Wayne.
Former treasurer LucyAnn Cook resigned in Dec. 2021. Berry-Talbot-Royer, a Certified Public Accountant firm in Falmouth was hired later that month to carry out many tasks previously completed by the town’s treasurer. At that time, Town Manager Christian Waller said naming a treasurer to perform other duties would still be needed.
“Have you had an opportunity to familiarize yourself with our software and bookkeeping processes,” Selectman Stephan Bunker asked.
“I know that you use TRIO [Accounting Software],” Bureau said. “I used that in Lewiston for vehicle registrations, know a bit about it. It seems to be a lot simpler compared with what I use now.”
In other business selectmen tabled authorizing Waller to sign a memorandum of understanding between Farmington and Franklin County for licensing and upgraded public safety and informational services.
If approved, Farmington would reimburse the county $24,339.19 of which $17,373.40 is for licenses and upgrades, $6,365.79 for maintaining the upgraded services and $600 for the subscription fee for those services. The funds would be due no later than Dec. 31, 2024, could be spread out over the next two years.
“It’s primarily an upgrade in law enforcement communication software,” Waller said. “We would basically be using clay tablets if we don’t consider this.”
“It’s not just law enforcement,” Police Chief Kenneth Charles said. “It’s actually everything that dispatch uses at the county level, everything from assigning calls to running license plates on behalf of the officers, it’s linked to the criminal information data base. It’s the hub of everything that we do in law enforcement. Then again dispatch and fire [departments] can be looking to add on.”
It looks to be taking a DOS-type program, upgrading it to a more cloud-based service, Charles noted.
The software is being developed now, would not be implemented until the end of 2024, Charles said. A software program called IMC is used now, they aren’t going to make improvements, they are moving away from that, he noted. All towns in the county with police departments will be asked to support their share of the upgrades, he added.
Companies keep changing outdated programs, stop updating them, Farmington Fire Rescue Chief Tim “TD” Hardy said. He said the fire department would be shopping for new software, maybe an attachment to this system. The system is funded at the county level through ARPA funds, the whole package price is around $700,000, he noted.
Franklin County is using ARPA funds for the first $500,000, Charles said. Emergency management obtained additional funding through homeland security, he added.
Selectman Joshua Bell asked how the county was functioning now, if this was something that should be put through the county budget process. Every town in the county benefits, not just those with organized police departments, he noted.
When asked if there would be time saving efficiencies, Charles said, “That’s exactly what it is going to do. It would be like going from your old version of Windows to a more current version.”
“What I am trying to figure out is why the budget process isn’t being used to disperse it amongst the county as a whole,” Bell said.
“We’re only paying for our portion to plug into that system,” Charles said.
The reimbursed amount specifically covers the Farmington Police Department’s records portion, Hardy stated. The county is covering the dispatch software and database, he added.
Waller said he would get more information and bring it to the board at their Feb. 14 meeting.
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