BELFAST – It didn’t take Waldo County Commissioner Greg Boetsch long to get up to speed on the challenges of his new job.

Boetsch was about an hour into his first commissioners’ meeting Tuesday when he was asked to vote to spend $85,000 to hire a consultant to study the long-term viability of the county’s buildings and facilities.

“That quick, that’s how money goes,” Boetsch said of his vote to hire Pulitzer, Bogard & Associates of Lido Beach, N.Y. Commissioners Jethro Pease and John Hyk also voted in favor of entering into a contract with the firm.

Boetsch was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Robert Gould of Belfast, who died last month. Gould had been in failing health and had announced earlier this year that he would not stand for re-election.

Boetsch, a Republican from Lincolnville, already had announced his intention to run for Gould’s seat and will be on the November ballot. Because Gould was also a Republican, party leaders tapped Boetsch to fill his unexpired term.

Tammy Lacher Scully, a Belfast city councilor, is running for commissioner as an independent and Betty Johnson of Lincolnville is on the November ballot as a Democrat.

As a member of the Lincolnville Board of Selectman, Boetsch said he was well-versed in municipal affairs. Tapping a pile of paperwork in front of him, he saw that serving the county was just a more expansive version of town business.

“A bunch of paper gets thrown at you, that’s nothing new,” said Boetsch. “It’s the same business, only another level up.”

Pulitzer, Bogard was hired on the recommendation of county architect Robert C. Fenney. Fenney noted that the company was providing a similar study to Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties and had a strong track record dealing with municipal governments. The Portland architectural firm SMRT, designers of the Troy M. Howard Middle School and Knox County Jail, will assist Pulitzer, Bogard with the facilities study.

Although the county has concerns about its District and Superior court buildings, the most pressing problem is at the jail and Sheriff’s Department. The jail is cramped and outmoded under current standards. The sheriff’s office is in a 150-year-old house next to the jail and is also taxed for space.

Fenney told the commissioners the study would determine the feasibility of upgrading both structures as well as review the option of building a new jail and sheriff’s office. The consultants in turn will take into consideration other potential uses for those buildings should commissioners decide to build a new jail.

The study also will consider the ramifications of building a new jail-sheriff’s office on the existing Congress Street site. The county has land available at that location but realizes expansion would encroach on one of the city’s better residential areas.

“The city of Belfast has people that have their own ideas about how it’s going to work,” observed Hyk.

Commissioners Chairman Pease and Hyk each informed Boetsch that the county had been playing catch-up on its facility needs for years. Both complained that long-range planning has sometimes been ignored and cited a lack of foresight as the reason for the study.

“We’re hoping this will be some sort of blueprint for the future,” said Hyk.

Pease used the regional communications center as an example of what he called poor planning. He said the county knew for seven years that regional dispatch was under state mandate but jammed the entire process into an eight-month period. Rather than borrow $600,000 for the new dispatch center, the county could have set money aside years ago if it had a plan in place, said Pease.

“If we had a real plan in place five years ago I don’t think we would have done it that way,” said Pease.

When Pease pointed out that the ideal situation for a new jail would be a 15-acre parcel with access to sewer and water, Boetsch questioned whether the county had any land set aside suitable for a new facility.