The numbers 17 and 15 are cq. david

Dispatch management board begins to emerge from talks

LEWISTON – Emergency dispatch officials don’t know how much money combining their services would save, but they now have a better idea of what it might look like.

A group of 17 fire, police and municipal government officials have drawn up a possible organizational plan for a countywide emergency dispatch service.

City Administrator Jim Bennett, co-chair of the group, said the trick has been finding a way to balance urban and rural demand for emergency dispatch services.

“The way we have it drawn up now, everyone on the board has to work together to get a budget passed,” Bennett said. “All the communities, big or small, need to agree to some point.”

The group has been meeting since January to find a way to combine dispatch services in Androscoggin County, a continuation of last year’s efforts to combine 911 call-answering centers. Androscoggin County has two centers – Lewiston-Auburn and the Sheriff’s Department.

There are still several agencies that dispatch emergency services, however. A study released a year ago found $400,000 in savings if those dispatch services were combined.

But Bennett said discussions about real savings will come later on.

“What it costs, ultimately depends on how we set it up,” he said.

Balancing votes

All 15 members of the dispatch service’s board of directors would get equal votes on most issues. Those members would be appointed by each municipality in Androscoggin County and county government itself.

But Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and the county delegates would get more of a say in three key areas – appointing a dispatch director, adopting a budget and adopting a plan to pay for buildings and equipment. Votes for those delegates would be weighted based on their size.

“It would keep a coalition of smaller communities, with less need for police services, from limiting the budget,” Bennett said. Those small towns couldn’t reduce the number of dispatchers on duty, for example, without the bigger communities’ approval.

The trick is to limit Lewiston, Auburn and Lisbon’s power so they don’t determine everything.

“The way it’s set up, we can’t blackball the small towns,” Bennett said. “Even if we all agree, we still need at least four of the 11 towns to agree.”

The current plan would give Lewiston seven votes, Auburn five and Lisbon two. The county could get as many as three votes. The remaining 11 towns, from Durham in the south to Livermore in the north, would get one vote apiece. That’s a total of 28 votes, and the board would need a minimum of 21 votes to adopt a budget, adopt a capital plan or hire a director.

The group is scheduled to meet June 28 to discuss paying for dispatch service, Bennett said. Members are on schedule to finish their report and budget plan by September.