THOMASTON – The town may give in to a change some residents have fought for years: regional emergency dispatching.

At a special town meeting Jan. 30, 2001, voters will consider shifting dispatching services to Knox Regional Communications Center, a move that appears to save the town money.

Town Manager Valmore Blastow Jr. indicated that surrounding towns were virtually being forced to switch to regional dispatching because of the costs involved if they stay with Thomaston’s services.

“I think that voters in a lot of instances today are not given an option,” Blastow said. “It’s a pretty serious matter.”

The special town meeting is set for 7 p.m. at Watts Hall.

Currently, the town dispatches police, fire and ambulance for Thomaston, and fire and ambulance for St. George, Cushing, Warren and Friendship.

However, Friendship sent a letter to Thomaston Nov. 20 informing it that as of Jan. 1, it will receive its services from Knox Regional Communications Center. And on Monday night, St. George selectmen “verbally” supported going with Knox sometime next year, Town Manager John Falla said Tuesday.

In a December town newsletter, Blastow informed Thomaston residents that the dispatch issue might be headed for a special town meeting. He noted the base cost for dispatch services at $132,180, with $47,000 revenue, making the cost to the town $85,000. Blastow compared that to the $45,590 Knox Regional Communications Center would charge the town. If the town were to go with Knox, it would still need an employee at the fire station 40 to 60 hours a week at a cost of $30,000-$35,000 a year, he noted.

Other Thomaston dispatch costs that Blastow did not include in the newsletter bring the overall budget closer to $200,000. Last week, Blastow added current employee benefits to the figure he published and came up with a total of $172,117. Those costs could be about $10,000 higher, depending on the marital status of employees because of health insurance costs. Thomaston pays the full cost of family health insurance for employees. The health insurance premiums for a married worker with children is $9,144 annually.

Still not included in the overall figure are expenses for utilities, equipment replacement and repairs, telephone fees and other operating costs that are part of the fire and ambulance budgets. Blastow could not estimate an amount of those costs related to dispatch.

Another fee that the town could face is for a computer link to the Knox center, which is not now being required. The $40,000 per-year fee to Verizon allows the same computer screen emergency information received at the Knox center to be displayed on a screen at Thomaston’s center through the push of a button, according to Linwood Lothrop, the director of Knox Communications Center.

Once Enhanced-911 is activated, Knox will become a public safety answering point, or PSAP, which will receive all emergency 911 calls in the county. Those calls will either be handled from start to finish by Knox dispatchers, if the town signs on for full services, or the call will be routed to Thomaston by the push of a button, he said. The Knox and Thomaston dispatchers will remain connected until all pertinent information is passed on.

Blastow seemed skeptical of the Knox offer.

According to Blastow, the town could be laying down money for a luxury car and getting an economy car.

“If you look at the sheer numbers, it clearly will benefit the voters,” he said.

He also pointed to the loss of local control, which in the past has been a sticking point each time selectmen have considered regional services.

“For many towns it will cost more not to receive the [Knox] service than to receive it,” Blastow said.

Under the plan discussed by Knox County commissioners Tuesday, each town within the county will be assessed a specific amount of the dispatch budget for 911 PSAP services, which is based on population.

In addition, each town will pay another separate fee if Knox dispatches law enforcement, emergency medical services or fire. The fee to Thomaston for Knox to handle all of its dispatching is $44,750 per year. That figure is subject to some adjustment, depending on which towns decide not to join the regional center.

At Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting, Camden Selectman Sid Lindsley said that his town’s board would consider the matter next week. He indicated strong support for switching to Knox for fire and ambulance. However, he expected that the town would continue operating its own police dispatch, except for the 911 tie to Knox.

The towns that are currently served by Thomaston will pay fees to Knox, as well as to Thomaston if they opt to stay with it.

For the year 2000, Thomaston earned $47,000 in revenues from the towns to which it provided dispatch services. Those towns were assessed the following: St. George, $13,879; Warren, $19,827; and Friendship and Cushing, $6,609.

If those towns receive full services from Knox, the fees would be: St. George, $33,741; Warren, $47,932; Cushing, $15,601 and Friendship, $15,011.

“I’m not saying the service won’t be good,” Blastow said, referring to Knox Communications Center. “[But] whoever heard of paying for a service you’re not going to get? There’s got to be a fundamental flaw in it.”

Blastow also indicated that Thomaston has a responsibility to the other towns it serves to continue providing service.

Another argument against regional dispatch has been that Thomaston dispatches for its public works department and SAD 50 school buses.

Lothrop pointed out that the city of Rockland has a large public works department. When a crew is needed for an emergency, an emergency dispatcher makes calls from a roster of public works employees. Otherwise, the public works department maintains its own communications.

As for SAD 5 schools in Rockland, Owls Head and South Thomaston, the district administrative office provides its own bus communications, he said.

At this time, Knox is capable of picking up the other towns in the county without increasing personnel, Lothrop said.

Currently, there are nine full-time dispatchers, two part-timers and one supervisor. Three operators are usually on from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., he noted.

Of the $508,149 budget for 2001, $430,000 is for salaries and benefits, he said.

“There are no frills in my budget,” he said.