FARMINGTON — Stanley “Stan” Wheeler, director of the Franklin County Regional Communications Center, plans to retire June 30.

Wheeler, 68, of Farmington submitted his letter of intent to retire to county commissioners on Monday.

He was hired as director of the dispatch center on Nov. 27, 2013. He started in 2000 as a dispatcher in Livermore Falls and has been with the county since 2006.

Wheeler also spearheaded a dispatch building committee to get a new center built across from the Sheriff’s Office building. It opened in April 2014 as a regional communications center.

County dispatching services had previously been under the control of the sheriff and had been in the Sheriff’s Office on County Way.

“I will be 69 this summer and it is time to move on,” Wheeler said Monday.

He plans to enjoy retirement. His wife, Donna, also recently retired, he said.

“I’m going to fish a lot and do some traveling,” Wheeler said.

He was born in Germany and moved to Virginia when he was 5 years old. During his career, he was marketing manager of business paper for Mead Corp. and oversaw a $15 million budget.

He moved to Maine in 1988 to attend the Bangor Theological Seminary to become a minister.

He has been chaplain for the Farmington Fire Rescue Department for many years.

“One of the first tasks I undertook was to upgrade and revitalize the communications system,” Wheeler wrote in his letter to commissioners. “For many years, no one had paid attention to the ‘system’ and instead had just attempted to add ‘band-aid’ fixes whenever a problem arose. What was needed was  systematic approach to communications and an attempt to catch up for the many years of neglect.”

Among the upgrades was the procurement of a taller tower on Mosher Hill in Farmington that was suited to the county’s needs.

They “successfully rebuilt the entire site to include far greater output power, a whole new ‘filtered’ radio system that eliminated much of the static and other issues we experienced, and provided a Radio Over Internet Protocol backbone for our system,” Wheeler wrote.

Additionally, working with Tim Hardy, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, Wheeler said he was able to tie-in to the Maine Emergency Management Agency radio network which has “given us the ability to provide radio coverage in many of the areas of Franklin County which were previously inaccessible,” according to Wheeler.

The aging radio console was replaced with a new digital console that firmed up the center’s radio over internet protocol. 

“Although we did experience problems with that console for a longer period of time than we would have liked, those problems are now behind us and we can look forward to a long period of time when that equipment will serve us well,” Wheeler wrote.

Wheeler also obtained an additional two-year extended warranty on the new console.

“Overall, I am very proud of what I have been able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time and feel that I have made a positive impact for Franklin County Regional Communications Center and will be leaving it in better shape than when I arrived,” Wheeler wrote. “It has been a privilege for me to be able to service the citizens of Franklin County in this capacity.”

Wheeler pledged to do everything he can to make the upcoming transition to a new director as smooth as possible.  

Stanley Wheeler (File photo)

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