HOULTON, Maine — Town Councilors heard details of a proposal Monday evening that could eliminate dispatching services at the Houlton Police Department and contract them out to a communication center operated by either the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office or the Maine State Police.
Four Houlton Police Department dispatchers would lose their jobs if the council votes to support the plan.
The contracting out of dispatching services was initially raised at a council budget workshop in October 2014, according to Town Manager Butch Asselin, who presented a report outlining estimated savings, costs and one-time expenses to councilors Monday night.
According to the document, it would cost the town an estimated $42,578 annually to have dispatching services provided by the sheriff’s office, and $47,844 if by the state police. The town would save $148,797 the first year by using the sheriff’s office dispatching service and $145,324 the second year, according to the report. It estimates that with the state police, the town would save $122,531 the first year and $140,058 the second.
Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna told councilors that he is not in favor of switching providers. With four full-time dispatchers, HPD provides 24-hour communication services for police, the Houlton Fire Department and the Houlton Ambulance Department and handles approximately 7,200 calls for service annually, according to the report. McKenna said that besides having to tell these employees they are out of a job, he feared losing control over dispatch operations to a larger agency. He also said that if the local dispatch service was shut down, the HPD lobby would close with it, losing what he called a “safe haven” for lost children and pets.
If the proposal passes and the dispatchers lose their jobs, they would be eligible to apply for possible positions with either the sheriff’s office or state police, but their is no guarantee they would be hired.
Houlton Fire Chief Milton Cone said he has numerous concerns, including about the huge amount of radio traffic handled by local dispatchers. Cone said that last year, Houlton Ambulance received 1,874 calls. At the same time, he said, dispatchers and first responders in southern Aroostook are still dealing with “the worst uniform house numbering system,” in the state, often because the homeowner has failed to number his or her home to comply with Maine’s Enhanced-911 emergency reporting system. This can result in delayed responses, which Cone said is happening at times with the ambulance crews.
“We sometimes have to ask the dispatcher to call the homeowner or whoever called for help back and give us better directions because the number is not out there on the home,” he said, adding that he was not sure that the state police or sheriff’s office realized their high volume of traffic.
Cone said dispatchers handled 75 calls for the fire department and wrote 275 burn permits. If a change is made in dispatching, he said, writing burn permits would only take place during business hours Monday through Friday.
Tom Milton, an HPD dispatcher, told councilors that he fears for officer safety and and a delay in officer response time if the proposal passes. Milton described a scenario that happened while he was dispatching in which the officer was in a foot chase with a suspect. Milton said if another dispatcher was in that same situation but dispatching for several other police, fire and ambulance services at the same time, he or she might not have been able to hear the officer, leading them to be slow providing backup. He also said that one dispatcher providing services for one police agency such as Houlton means that an officer will always respond to a citizen complaint in a timely manner, and if they can’t, a dispatcher will tell the caller why.
Aroostook County Sheriff Darrell Crandall, who was unable to make the meeting due to an obligation in Augusta, provided the financial figures about dispatching by the sheriff’s office. He was cautious about it, however.
“First, I believe that an agency your size, with your call volume, is better suited to retain your own dedicated dispatch service,” he wrote. “Second, I can tell you that while a contracted public safety dispatching service can be effective … it can never provide you with the kind of singularly focused service you have now.”
Chairman Wade Hanson said Monday evening that the proposal was just an option and that nothing was definite. No date was set for when the proposal might be put to a vote.
