By Craig Crosby, Kennebec Journal Staff Writer
Monmouth, Maine — Selectmen have added their voice to the growing chorus of complaints spawned by a state plan to consolidate emergency call centers.

On Wednesday, they signed a letter to the Public Utilities Commission airing a laundry list of complaints against Central Maine Regional Communications Center in Augusta and opposing any plan requiring the town to resume a relationship with the center.

“Our experience was not without considerable disappointment with the service, lack of equipment, poor problem-solving and questionable cost savings,” selectmen wrote. “Our experience with the service could only have been described as poor.”

Community and public safety officials around the state have voiced overwhelming opposition to a plan to consolidate the number of 9-1-1 calls centers, called Public Safety Answering Points, from 26 to 17.

There were 48 PSAPs prior to 2003.

PUC Chairman Jack Cashman, speaking at a public hearing last month, said the Legislature required the commission to come up with a plan to further consolidate the number of PSAPs. The commission, while accepting comments on the plan, has no authority other than to recommend how that consolidation takes place, Cashman said.

The plan is to have one 9-1-1 call center per county, with an additional center in Portland. It also calls for consolidation of some local dispatch centers.

The state would require Kennebec County communities to use the Central Maine Regional Communications Center in Augusta to answer 9-1-1 calls.

But more than a dozen Kennebec County communities forged relationships with PSAPs in Somerset and Lincoln counties over the past year after multiple complaints that the Augusta center charged more money for poorer service.

The Augusta center provided PSAP and dispatching services for Monmouth for nearly 24 months before the town decided in June 2009 to move its PSAP to Somerset County and its dispatching to Winthrop.

The town saved approximately $7,000 per year by making the switch — but the change was almost entirely motivated by service that Monmouth emergency responders found unacceptable.

“Though the facility has very dedicated personnel working at the radio and phone consoles, their performance was inadequate,” selectmen wrote. “All of our services experienced lost calls, poor directions and simply not sending the proper services to the correct communities.”

In their letter, selectmen allege the Augusta center lacked simple equipment, such as backup radios.

“If computers, radio links or even a keyboard failed, there was no way for dispatchers to activate radios or tones,” selectmen wrote. “We offered to supply their dispatchers with radio equipment to support this ability. The management of the system refused to take our offer.”

The Augusta center still has no backup radio, according to selectmen.

The source of the centers’ incompetence belongs to those who run the facility, selectmen said.

“The management would listen very politely to any problems we presented to them,” selectmen wrote. “They would either do nothing or blame another state agency for their failures. We met monthly, only to be ignored.”

The town is “highly satisfied” with service being provided by the Somerset County and Winthrop centers.

“Both agencies are problem-free, have up-to-date equipment with back-up radios and controlled costs,” selectmen wrote. “We are treated as both teammates and valued customers. We … prefer not to be forced to return to the Augusta RCC.”

About the Author
Contact Craig Crosby at 207/621-5642 or ccrosby@centralmaine.com.

Posted with permission of the Kennebec Journal.