Scarborough and Old Orchard Beach should work to assist employees who will lose their jobs as Scarborough assumes dispatching duties for both towns.

Old Orchard Beach dispatchers are upset that Scarborough plans to treat them the same as other applicants as the town considers how to fill five positions created in the expansion of Scarborough’s dispatching services.

The two towns are doing the right thing by consolidating the two departments. The state is mandating that communities reduce the number of emergency call centers because the move will ultimately save taxpayers money.

“This is not personal. This is a financial decision. When we have the opportunity to lower our costs, we have an obligation to the taxpayers to look at it,” said Old Orchard Police Chief Dana Kelley.

Kelley is correct. However, these towns also have an obligation to employees who have served the public for many years.

Scarborough has made it clear it Old Orchard Beach dispatchers will not be guaranteed jobs at Scarborough’s expanded dispatching center. The town is advertising, in both the Portland and Bangor areas, to fill the positions.

The news for Old Orchard Beach dispatchers is not all bad. Scarborough town officials have said they will consider the experience and familiarity with the area of dispatchers applying for the jobs. Old Orchard Beach dispatchers would seem to have both.

Depending on how much experience they have, Old Orchard dispatchers also stand to make a little more money in Scarborough. Old Orchard Town Manager Jim Thomas said if Scarborough were to hire one of Old Orchard’s dispatchers the town would offer to bring them in at a level three pay scale, which would be an average of a $1.50 more an hour.

Old Orchard dispatchers are upset because they believe their contract requires that they would be guaranteed the first shot at any jobs in a consolidation and that they would be able to keep their seniority. That seniority would apply to pay, hours worked and vacation time.

However, Thomas disagrees. He says their contract does not guarantee them jobs and seniority. He says Old Orchard Beach is not consolidating its dispatching services with Scarborough. By his thinking, Old Orchard Beach is eliminating its dispatching, and the town in contracting with Scarborough for the service.

He’s technically correct; however, it’s an argument based on semantics. Andrea Perrone, the president of the dispatchers union, said they negotiated this as a part of the contract they signed last year. Knowing consolidations were looming because of the state mandate, dispatchers no doubt had just such a situation in mind when they were negotiating their contract last year.

In a similar consolidation last year, the town of Gorham eliminated its dispatching services and started contracting with the county for the service. In that case, the town of Gorham required, as a part of the deal with the county, that the county hire Gorham dispatchers who would lose their jobs as a result. It was only fair. If those dispatchers were doing a good job for Gorham, it would stand to reason that they would also do a good job for the county. They were losing their jobs, so they deserved the first shot at the new ones.

The same thing should happen in Scarborough. Old Orchard should make sure it’s honoring not just the letter but the spirit of its contract with these dispatchers, and Scarborough should make sure it honors the experience and service of these dispatchers when it fills these positions.

Brendan Moran, editor