Bangor debates regional dispatch

BANGOR – After nearly three hours of discussion and debate during a budget workshop Monday night, city councilors took no definitive position on the future of emergency dispatching in Bangor. Instead, they agreed to have City Manager Edward Barrett develop some written options for their review.

At issue is whether the city of Bangor should join the Penobscot Regional Communications Center or retain its own dispatch system.

Now emergency calls for police, fire and ambulance services in Bangor are directed to the Bangor Police Station.

However, if Bangor decides to sign onto the county program, emergency calls would be handled by dispatchers at the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, which now handles calls for all of the county except for Bangor, Lincoln, the University of Maine and the state police.

The idea behind the regional service, founded in 1997, was to save county taxpayers money by avoiding the duplication of services and to help county communities fulfill state emergency dispatching requirements, which have become increasingly costly to meet.

The concept has encountered resistance in Bangor, where opponents have cited concerns about the loss of local control and the quality and level of service county dispatch provides. Bangor currently accounts for 40 percent of all the county’s emergency calls.

Police Chief Don Winslow said that while the measure could save nearly $200,000 a year after the first year, the switch also could leave the police station empty for much of the night and would require some improvements in station security. Even if the city opted to join the county program, he said, it would still need at least three telephone operators to answer the nonemergency business calls, which total more than a quarter of a million a year.

Winslow said his biggest concern was that his commanding officers would lose their ability to work directly with dispatchers during times of crisis because the dispatchers would be located in a different facility.

Bangor Fire Chief Jeff Cammack noted that computer software problems would need to be overcome. He also noted city-employed dispatchers had an advantage over regional ones in their familiarity with his department’s needs, including information about the locations of hydrants and control panels, among other things.

Councilors were all over the map on the issue. Some, such as Frank Farrington and David Nealley, saw going regional as one way to deal with tough economic times. Others, like Anne Allen, expressed concerns about a merger’s unknown costs.

Lt. David Bickford, the president of the local firefighters union, said that given the differences of opinion over the matter, it might be appropriate to put the matter out to citywide referendum.

Further muddying the waters is that state law governing county communications centers, like Penobscot Regional Communications Center, is vague and confusing.

During Monday’s workshop, City Solicitor Norman Heitmann pointed out some apparent contradictions in the law, including the matter of how costs for services are to be shared. Heitmann said he was researching the law and hoped to have answers by the end of this week.

Despite councilors’ differing views on the regional dispatch issue, most agreed that resolution was needed – the city’s dispatchers need a clear direction and the decision could factor into the city’s plans for a new police station.

Monday was not the first time that the pros and cons of joining the county dispatch service have been weighed.

From the time of its inception in July 1997 through last year, the regional communication center’s operating budget was funded by a combination of user fees and county funds. Participating cities and towns were assessed a per capita service fee, which covered most of the dispatch center’s operating budget. The county funded the balance.

A year ago, the Bangor council revisited the notion of joining regional as a cost-saving measure in response to the Penobscot County Budget Committee’s November 2001 vote to fund the entire service through the county tax rather than service fees.

The decision translated into a $51,000 increase for Bangor, which, based on its assessed value, pays about 25 percent of the county budget. The decision also led to complaints that the city was being forced to pay more for a service it wasn’t using.

Penobscot Regional Communications Center Director Cliff Wells, who sat in on the council workshop, said that if Bangor joins the county system, the regional service would need to expand its Court Street facility and hire 10 additional dispatchers, bringing the total there to 32.

On Monday, Barrett said he would develop a list of the issues, obstacles and concerns that would need to be addressed in order for the city to consider joining the county dispatch program.

That list will be presented to the council for review and if no showstoppers arise, city staff then will enter discussions with county officials to determine the extent to which the county can address the concerns. If the council is satisfied with the county’s ability to work with the city to that end, staff would then begin negotiating a draft agreement for the council’s consideration.