Daniel Hartill, Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)

AUBURN — Calls for emergency help in Poland will soon take a new route.

On Thursday, technicians will begin diverting all of Poland’s 9-1-1 calls. Rather than arriving at the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, the longtime public safety answering point for the town, the calls will go to Lewiston-Auburn 9-1-1, which is in the basement of Auburn’s Central Fire Station on Minot Avenue.

“That’s what the townspeople wanted,” Sheriff Guy Desjardins said Monday. “We’ll make it work.”

Last week, Poland and Lewiston-Auburn 9-1-1 signed the deal, setting an annual fee of $2.25 per capita for the service. In the first year, the town will be charged just over $12,000.

The switch consolidates the dispatching of town services at the city dispatch center. Since 2010, Lewiston-Auburn 9-1-1 has been dispatching fire and rescue services for Poland.

The latest change follows a decision last fall by the Androscoggin County Commission, which started charging towns a $2 per capita fee for answering their emergency calls.

Poland had no signed contract with the county’s dispatch center, which unveiled a state-of-the-art renovation last month.

The transition should be smooth, said Phyllis Gamache, who directs Lewiston-Auburn 9-1-1. The change requires modest computer programming. Tests are also planned to ensure that no calls are lost.

Poland averages one 9-1-1 call per day, Gamache said. Typically, about 80 percent of those are law enforcement calls, which would be transferred back to the county dispatch center for a response by sheriff’s deputies or the Maine State Police.

On average, Lewiston-Auburn 9-1-1 answers about 115 calls each day, Gamache said.

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