County commissioners create panel for new jail

SKOWHEGAN – In what they are calling “an effort to be as transparent as possible,” the Somerset County commissioners have created a citizens committee that will act as liaison between those involved in building a new jail and taxpayers.

In addition, said Chairman Paul Hatch, a new Web site for the commissioners is under construction and should be running by the end of this week. Hatch said information on the construction of a new jail will be placed on the Web site to keep taxpayers informed.

The new committee, which the commissioners hope will have a representative from each of the county’s 33 towns and its unorganized territories, will meet for the first time at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at the Somerset County Courthouse in Skowhegan.

“We will bring everyone up-to-date, and they can pass that information on to the people in their areas,” Hatch said. “I have been answering questions on the project every day. Or, I should say, I have been answering rumors.”

Added Commissioner Robert Dunphy: “This will take some of the burden off us and allow us to move on to other projects.”

Once the Web site is operational, representatives and their phone numbers will be listed.

At their meeting Tuesday, the commissioners reviewed the jail’s site assessment created by S.W. Cole. “This phase is just common sense,” Hatch said. The assessment contains project site descriptions, locations, current and past uses, federal and state environmental records, and information on other issues such as underground tanks, wells and septic systems.

“We want to make sure, on any site, that we don’t run into anything hidden,” Hatch said.

In other business, the commissioners:

. Agreed to a one-year contract with AMS Ambulance Service for Lexington Township and Highland Plantation. AMS interim director David Beckwith said the service could handle the 25 or so calls in that area for $10,000 a year. Norstar EMS Service out of Franklin County had proposed offering the service for $12,248.

But Dunphy said it was not the price that concerned him but rather response time. Norstar said it could have a first responder in Lexington in 17 minutes and an ambulance there within 45 to 50 minutes.

“We can beat them hands down any day of the week,” Beckwith said. “We can have a truck there in less than half their time.”

AMS’ rescue service is just five miles away and the ambulances are housed only 11 miles away, he said.