March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Emergency call plan adopted > Dispatching services tops Van Buren council agenda

VAN BUREN — The Town Council adopted a six-point plan Monday designed to improve emergency dispatching services.

Recommendations for the new plan were developed at a meeting among the town’s contracted dispatchers, fire and police chiefs and directors of ambulance and civil emergency preparedness services.

The dispatcher on duty will now state the time when answering calls and will answer all nighttime calls at the desk. Calls to 868-2722 and 868-2251 will be answered with, “Van Buren Fire and Ambulance.” The fire departments of Grand Isle and St. Leonard, New Brunswick, will be called automatically to assist at all structure fires.

On the technology side, emergency heads agreed to look at the cost and availability of a telephone company service, Caller ID, which would allow dispatchers to monitor callers’ telephone numbers. The also sought more information about a system which automatically switches calls from busy lines to open ones.

They also agreed to recommend that the capital improvements program committee add a tape-recording system for the dispatching service to its five-year plan. The council will review the plan after 120 days.

A look at town records showed that Roger Cormier, who purchased a parcel and warehouse from the town in 1986, also was given a deed to a building now used as a smokehouse for firefighter training.

Cormier said he was arranging to transfer that parcel to Peoples Heritage Bank in November, which would leave the fire department without a smoke-training area. The council said it would explore options for obtaining another facility.

Councilors agreed to write a letter in support of referendum question No. 9 on the November ballot. The proposal calls for an amendment to the state constitution which would require the state to provide funds for any mandates imposed on municipalities by statute, executive order or rule.

Councilor Peter Ashley said “the whole world” needed to vote yes on that issue, and that the amendment should be “retroactive to 1927.”

Officials also agreed to support the Caribou Recreation and Parks Department’s efforts to acquire an unused Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Co. trackbed for four-season recreation purposes. If purchased by the Land for Maine’s Future Board or the Department of Transportation, it would become Maine’s first “lineal state park.”

Rachelle Girard of Van Buren was named to a three-year seat on the board of trustees at the Abel J. Morneault Memorial Library. A two-year board vacancy remained to be filled.

Rena Bouchard and Town Council Chairman Norman Thibodeau were reappointed to the Northern Maine Regional Planning Commission’s overall board. The council also voted to join Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development.

The council awarded a siding-repair project at the municipal building to Wolf Construction, which bid $6,659. The Limestone contractor was the sole bidder.

Officials agreed to include Cyr Plantation in the effort to find a new means of solid-waste disposal. The plantation now pays Van Buren for use of its landfill, which must be closed by Dec. 31.

Town Manager Jayne Farrin briefed the council on acquired parcels of land. She said she would try to collect money owed before pursuing legal action. She said one case involved a property owner who died during the lien process. Her plans were to hold off until heirs settled the estate.

She also said town employees will get free hepatitis B vaccines, a health measure mandated for some employees by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.


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