By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — City Council members from Presque Isle and Caribou met Nov. 19 at Northern Maine Community College to continue their discussion on ways the two communities might be able to combine services, saving both cities money.
The focus of this latest meeting — the third such session since the concept of sharing services to cut costs arose earlier this year — involved two departments: fire and public works. On the fire side, the chiefs from each community spoke on how Presque Isle could get into the ambulance business, using Caribou as a model — an idea that would require additional personnel to handle the added calls. For public works, talk continued on staffing and other aspects of combining duties to provide adequate coverage to both municipalities, especially come winter.
Present at the meeting were: Presque Isle City Manager Jim Bennett; Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess; Presque Isle Fire Chief Darrell White; Caribou Fire Chief Scott Susi; Caribou/Presque Isle Public Works Director Dave Ouellette; Presque Isle City Council Vice Chair Randy Smith, and Councilors Pete Hallowell, Craig Green, Bruce Sargent, Mike Chasse and Dick Engels; and Caribou Mayor Gary Aiken, Deputy Mayor Kenneth Murchison, and Councilors Phil McDonough II, Shane McDougall, Joan Theriault, David Martin and David Genthner Sr.
“We’re specifically asking for guidance at the end of the night on a couple items. On the public works side, we’ve done enough review to believe we should continue to the next level. We also believe we’ll be back together in January or the first of February on this, as well as joint dispatch,” said Bennett.
Bennett said the rest was “informational.”
“The ambulance is a policy decision the Presque Isle Council needs to make — either tonight or at our next workshop Dec. 2,” Bennett said.
Bleess said IT (Internet technology) sharing “plays a large role for both communities in everything we do.”
“Both use the same types of software, programming. What’s missing is the info link between communities,” said Bleess, noting the cost to connect the two cities would run around $3,000. “We’re ready to roll on that.”
As to the joint dispatch issue, Bleess said he and Bennett met with both police chiefs, Mike Gahagan and Matt Irwin, but that “more information needed to be gathered with regard to joint dispatch and holding cells, since both use Caribou’s cells, as does the courthouse.”
“We’re also looking at a couple other options, including county and state (dispatch services), to see if that might be cheaper. When we meet in January, we’ll know better what our options are,” Bleess said.
The meeting was then turned over to the fire chiefs White and Susi.
White began, noting PI officials were looking to Caribou for guidance, since they’ve been in the ambulance business for nearly 30 years.
“For staffing, we’ve come up with six new employees would be necessary, in this proposal, to staff the ambulance. We’d maintain the same exact service level at the PIFD as we have today,” said White.
White said Presque Isle’s initial capital investment would run about $304,000 and include: a new ambulance at $170,000, one re-mount unit at $90,000, and EMS equipment and supplies at $22,000 per unit. He projected net revenue of roughly $30,000.
revenue of $29,284,” said White.
Councilors questioned various aspects of the presentation. Bennett noted actual figures would likely be higher.
Susi said it was “a modest estimate.” He said there were many models to follow and that costs vary.
