Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Maine towns mull regional dispatch

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 15:12:40 -0400

Maine towns mull regional dispatch

By Karen Dandurant
[email-masked]

YORK, Maine - Town officials submitted a grant
request to look at the possibility of creating a
regional dispatch service for seven southern
Maine towns.

The towns participating are York, Kittery, Eliot,
South Berwick, Berwick, Ogunquit and Wells.
York is the grant sponsor.

York Town Manager Mark Green said the
$21,000 grant application was sent to York
County on Oct. 15.

If approved, the money would come from homeland security funds.
Police Chief Doug Bracy said the grant is written for the towns to look at the
feasibility of combining different parts of the communication center and
record-management systems.

"We do it in a small way now because we dispatch for Ogunquit, Kittery does Eliot,
and South Berwick does Berwick," said Bracy. "We already share some, and we’ll
look at the possibility of combining more services.

"There are two sections of communication: emergency and the delivery of
information. We will assess the cost of replacing the services if we went to
centralization. There are a lot of factors to consider, such as trying to merge
all those radio frequencies. And if we all have different emergency management
systems it could get costly, as could the technology."

The seven towns began meeting in August to see if there were enough interest in
the merger. In the past month they’ve been working on writing the grant. Bracy
said he expects to have an answer by Dec. 1.

"The main idea is to see if we can improve the inter-operability of our
communications systems," said Green, in a report to selectmen. "The proposal seeks
to learn if a regional dispatch system could be designed that will both improve
service and perhaps save a little money. It will also explore ways that we can
improve our other communication systems so that all towns can communicate
effectively during regional and mutual aid emergencies."

Bracy said, "The state is championing a regionalization of services wherever
possible. The emergency 911 system people are looking to reduce the number of
public safety answering points. We have them at York, South Berwick, Kittery and
Wells, four points, so it behooves us to look at it, to see if there are areas
where we can save. Then, the philosophical question becomes an individual one for
each town - what they see as their needs, a choice to personalize or stay on their
own."

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/10182003/news/55909.htm

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