County addresses emergency readiness,
jail funding
FORT KENT, Maine — Aroostook County Commissioners designated Emergency Management Director Darren Woods as the county’s National Incident Management System Coordinator at their March 3, 2016 meeting in Fort Kent.
Woods said via telephone following the meeting that the county EMA office has always provided the services needed during disasters, but that he has been undertaking a process to formalize and document its accumulated knowledge and resources.
“We are working toward a higher standard,” said Woods.
NIMS is the standard comand system employed by federal and most state agencies when dealing with natural and manmade disasters.
Woods is following the requirements of the independent Emergency Management Accreditation Program, part of which is naming a NIMS coordinator for the county.
Woods said it is is not clear at this point if the county will request formal accreditation, due to the high cost.
“But, I still want to bring our office to this standard,” he said.
In other county business last week, Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery Corporation board member David Bell presented the commissioners an overview of the group’s desire to renovate a portion of the cemetery, which was completed in 2003.
According to County Administrator Doug Beaulieu, the cemetery corporation estimates it will need to raise $50,000 to complete the renovations, which include enclosing some sections to protect them from the elements.
Bell made no specific funding requests to the commissioners, but did ask that they consider contributing.
“It’s a worthy cause,” Beaulieu said following the meeting. “The commissioners support the idea. But, given the financial situation (the county is in) they are not sure what they will be able to do”.
The commissioners will review Bell’s information and reconsider the funding request at a subsequent meeting, Beaulieu said.
The commissioners also signed off on an updated Hazardous Mitigation Plan.
Every five years Woods’ office works with communities in the county to assess various local and persistent hazards. These can include such seemingly mundane things as road culverts that clog every year.
These are “repetitive problems that could become worse,” he said.
By taking part in the plan communities and unorganized territories in Aroostook are eligible to receive FEMA mitigation funding.
“Our office takes it seriously,” said Woods. “It has a financial benefit, and it also useful in planning for and preventing larger events.”
The commissioners also approved a resolution agreeing to negotiate with Fiberight LLC for the solid waste disposal in the former town of Bancroft.
Bancroft de-organized last year and is now under the unorganized territories with Aroostook County.
The current contract with PERC expires in 2018, and at that time PERC will no longer be able to process the waste at a reasonable rate, according to Paul Bernier, public works director with the county.
“Should everything work out,” regarding the rates quoted by Fiberight, the county is expected to contract with them.
Also at last week’s meeting, Beaulieu reported on a legislative resolution making its way through the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety that would help counties fund jail operations.
Last year, control of those jails, such as the facility in Houlton, reverted back to the counties following six years of management under a statewide Board of Corrections.
That system was an “unmitigated disaster,” according to Beaulieu.
If approved by the appropriations Committee and the full legislature, the resolution would likely result in Aroostook receiving approximately $70,000.
“That’s like putting cold patch on a sinkhole,” said Beaulieu, considering the jail budget this year is $3.6 million.
That is just for operations, and the amount is being partially covered by a transfer of reserve funds.
Even so, the overall county budget, which normally goes up approximately 2.4 percent a year is up 8.2 percent this year, due to the additional jail costs.
Among the other financial challenges left to Beaulieu and the commissioners following the return of jail control is addressing the state’s lack of building any capital improvement funding into jail budgets.
The funding issues are unwelcomed, Beaulieu said, “But, at least our fate is in our hands now.”
