Selectmen in Buxton and Hollis have entered into an agreement to have Scarborough become the emergency 911 call center for the two towns.
The towns’ decisions to switch the provider of the emergency 911 call center came before midnight June 30, a deadline set by the Maine Public Utilities Commission to hear from municipalities as the state reduces emergency call centers statewide.
This move means that Buxton and Hollis, both York County towns, will be crossing county lines to join up with Scarborough, which is in Cumberland County.
Buxton will be retaining its own dispatch center and will still continue to dispatch fire and rescue calls for Hollis. “We will not do away with our dispatch,” said Dan Collomy, chairman of Buxton’s board of selectmen. Ben Severance, chairman of the Hollis board of selectmen, said Hollis has a long-standing relationship with Buxton that would be in the town’s best interest to continue. “We’re married to Buxton,” said Severance.
Buxton selectman approved the deal with Scarborough at its meeting Wednesday. Severance signed a letter of intent for Hollis on Thursday. Scarborough’s emergency call center service to Buxton and Hollis would begin on Jan. 1.
Under the agreement, Scarborough will transfer emergency 911 calls from Buxton and Hollis to Buxton’s dispatch. Emergency calls for Buxton and Hollis are currently transferred to the Buxton dispatch center by York County dispatch.
Scarborough is charging each town $1 per resident yearly for the emergency 911 call service. Selectman Bob Libby said Buxton would be paying Scarborough $8,000 and Severance said Hollis would pay $4,400.
Libby said he was satisfied with the arrangement. “I’m pleased with Scarborough,” he said.
Severance said Hollis chose not to accept a similar proposal from the state to provide emergency call service because of upfront costs. Libby said Buxton would be responsible for a one-time cost of telephone lines to Scarborough.
Jean Harmon, a Buxton selectman, said the Buxton and Scarborough fire departments already work together under a mutual aid agreement. Harmon credited Buxton Police Chief Jody Thomas with doing a lot of research before selectmen chose Scarborough as the town’s new emergency 911 call center.
Under the present arrangement, cost of providing the emergency 911 service has been wrapped into the York County tax bill to Buxton and Hollis. “We’re providing it free to them today,” said Marc Meserve, chairman of York County commissioners, about the emergency 911 service.
Severance said there isn’t a good way to break out the current county costs of providing the emergency 911 service to Hollis from the county budget. In Buxton, Libby hopes that the county tax bill would reflect that the county wouldn’t be providing the emergency 911 service to Buxton dispatch next year.
Meserve said York County and Sanford have applied to the Public Utilities Commission to have a joint emergency call center under the state’s reduction plan, but it hasn’t received state approval yet. Meserve said the state wants only three emergency 911 call centers in York County.
The new York County-Sanford entity would be named First County Dispatch, but its location and costs of a new or a refurbished building were unclear last week.
Meserve said that he wouldn’t have been able to quote a cost for the emergency 911 call center service to Buxton before the state deadline. But Meserve added Buxton hadn’t asked for a figure. Meserve said he understood that municipalities had to make a decision before last week’s deadline as to what would be best for each town.
Scarborough Town Manager Ron Owns said Scarborough has also applied to the Public Utilities Commission to become one of the regional emergency call centers in Cumberland County. Owns said Scarborough would start handling all dispatching for Old Orchard Beach in October.
Owns said Scarborough would add one dispatcher to handle Old Orchard Beach, but wouldn’t require additional personnel to provide emergency 911 call service for Buxton and Hollis. Scarborough would just be forwarding emergency calls for the two towns to the Buxton dispatch center.
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