OLD ORCHARD BEACH —Town officials are looking toward Sanford Regional Communications Center to take over the town’s 9-1-1 emergency calls and non-emergency dispatch calls.
Town Manager Jack Turcotte said shifting dispatch operations to Sanford could save the town an estimated $135,000 annually. In addition to cost savings, he said the shift would follow the state’s push to consolidate call centers by county in Maine.
The town currently employs six dispatchers to handle non-emergency calls.
Sanford Regional Communications Center now answers all 9-1-1 calls made in Acton, Alfred, Arundel, Kennebunk, Lebanon, Limerick, Newfield, North Berwick, Sanford, Springvale, Shapleigh and Waterboro, as well as dispatching the towns’ police, fire and rescue personnel for non-emergency calls.
Initially, Turcotte said, the town considered Scarborough to handle its 9-1-1 calls.
“Scarborough, even though they’re closer, they’re in Cumberland (County). It wouldn’t meet the standards for us” of having one Public Safety Answering Point for each county, Turcotte said.
The town council is expected to discuss this decision further at their next meeting on Feb. 1.
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