LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectman Russell Flagg told residents Monday that the Board of Selectmen has the authority to do away with the emergency dispatch service.
The discussion began with Flagg asking Town Manager Alan Gove if he had checked with Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department officials to see if they are interested in dispatching for all three shifts of the emergency service.
Selectmen have been looking for ways to regionalize some services to save money. Flagg said there is infrastructure in the town that is in dire need of repairs. Those repairs include a new roof on the municipal building and road improvements. The $133,000 proposed for dispatch, Flagg said, could be used to help with repairs.
Flagg also asked if Fire Chief Ken Jones had checked on the possibility of the Jay Police Department’s dispatching fire calls for the Livermore Falls Fire Department.
Chairman Ken Jacques said the Fire Department is also looking at regionalization.
Since Jones was not there, Flagg asked that the regionalization discussion be put on the agenda of the next meeting.
Jacques said regionalization is coming, whether people like it or not.
Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. asked why the board was bringing up the issue of doing away with dispatch again. It was brought up in 2003 and residents studied it and recommended that it stay part of the town services, he said.
Steward said he has people qualified to do a job, and for four years they have been wondering if they will still have a job come budget time. Having a dispatch center open 24 hours gives residents a sense of security, he said.
Steward said he would like to see the board settle down, since the town is studying a switch to Franklin County.
Livermore Falls pays about $151,000 in taxes to the county, Jacques said, and providing the dispatch services would be one way to get something for the money.
The Dispatch Committee’s final analysis in 2003 indicated that if selectmen approved the position of a full-time police secretary, and followed the committee’s recommendation for an equipment reserve account, there would be some savings – about $19,000 the first year, not factoring in intangibles. But the panel raised the question of whether the savings justified the loss in service and the loss of local jobs. The dispatch center would be moved 30 miles away to Auburn.
Selectmen voted at the time to keep the service the same.
Resident Miriam Buchanan said Monday that she thinks the decision on dispatch service is a community decision.
However, Flagg said that if the decision is the board’s, it has the right to overhaul the service in an effort to reduce taxes for residents.
Townspeople, Flagg said, have the right to make the decisions during the election of officials.
Selectman Joyce Drake said she would want to take regionalization slowly and maybe have the Sheriff’s Department do one shift to see how it worked.
Selectman Bernal Lake said the town has to make up its mind on whether to pursue switching counties, or to put the effort into having the Androscoggin Sheriff’s Department provide dispatch services.
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