HALLOWELL — Two hours of angry talk failed to change Androscoggin County Commissioner Randall Greenwood’s mind.

He listened in the audience Wednesday as local leaders from across Maine condemned a Maine Public Utilities Commission proposal Wednesday to shrink the number of places where emergency calls are answered and dispatched.

Town managers, police and fire chiefs and special-interest groups argued that Maine’s emergency system works too well to endure costly changes.

Through it all, Greenwood and fellow Commissioner Elaine Makas said nothing.

“I thought it was going to be worse,” Greenwood said when the hearing ended at PUC headquarters in Hallowell. “I’m still optimistic that we can make an agreement.”

One week ago, the three-member County Commission approved a plan that would end years of study and merge Androscoggin County dispatching and the Lewiston-Auburn 911 call center.

The merger came with conditions, though.

The new merged dispatch center needs countywide governance, a fair and equitable distribution of costs and a tiered system of service to meet the needs of rural and urban communities, commissioners said.

Before the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Greenwood distributed a one-page outline of the county’s agreement to the Public Utilities Commission.

Minutes later, the hearing began with a warning from PUC Chairman Jack Cashman.

The proposal for a statewide reduction in 911 answer centers from 26 to 15-17 centers was ordered by the Maine Legislature, Cashman said. The PUC will create the proposal that lawmakers want, without straying, he said.

“We, as the Public Utilities Commission, do not have that authority,” Cashman said.

Then the testimony began. Speakers were officials from places as varied as Pittston, Old Orchard Beach, Bangor, Brunswick, Augusta, Sanford, Southwest Harbor and Scarborough.

The Maine Municipal Association and the Maine County Commissioners Association each argued that the mergers would cost too much money and would often interrupt smaller merger efforts already under way on a voluntary basis.

Officials from several counties unaffected by the proposal attended the hearing, to ensure that the PUC hadn’t changed its mind and still did not have plans for them.

James Miclon, director of the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris, listened, sometimes referring to a chart of emergency call volumes at Maine’s answer centers.

However, no one suggested changes to his center, which already answers and dispatches emergency help across Oxford County.

“We’ve been doing it for eons,” he said.

Makas, an Androscoggin County commissioner, said after the hearing that the complaints likely reflect a limited sample of opinions.

A former legislator from Lewiston, Makas said the fate of the PUC proposal and the consolidation effort rests with lawmakers, who will gather in January.

“It will really be up to the Legislature,” she said.

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