Gorham dispatchers worried this week that a recommendation to consolidate the town’s dispatching center with the county’s would mean the loss of jobs and personal service for citizens.

Gorham Town Manager David Cole recommended, in a report released Monday to the Town Council, that Gorham accept an offer from Cumberland County to consolidate dispatching and emergency call center services. The proposal could net Gorham a savings of $116,458 a year.

“Gorham would save roughly $1 million in 8 and a half years,” said Cole.

However, Gorham dispatchers feared the recommendation could lead to the loss of six jobs and leave the town without dispatchers familiar with the town’s roads and elderly residents who rely on their service.

The senior dispatcher, Michial Russell, works the night shift, and early on Tuesday, he hadn’t read Cole’s recommendation. Russell, who has two children, said his answering machine at home had been “bombarded” by calls after the word got out on Monday.

“They haven’t given me any guarantees,” he said. “I have a family to be concerned about.”

The Gorham Town Council will discuss the measure at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the auditorium at Gorham High School. Council action could follow a public hearing. If the council approves, dispatching could shift to the county within a month.

The county submitted a proposal calling for a two-year contract at $209,852 per year. Westbrook submitted a similar proposal. However, Westbrook would have charged the town $270,000 a year to takeover Gorham dispatching services.

Gorham currently budgets $432,344 for dispatching. A shift to the county would save Gorham $223,543 annually, according to Cole’s report. Some of the savings would disappear, however, as Gorham paid for other public safety positions.

News of the recommendation upset Gorham dispatcher Julie Poland, who worries about losing her job and worries about the public. “I’m angry and I’m sad,” Poland said. “I hope the council realizes all the personal services they’ll lose if they vote for this.”

Cole said Gorham has eight positions for dispatchers with one vacancy. Under consolidation with the county, one dispatcher, Mike Nault, would return to duty with the Gorham Police Department. Cole is optimistic that Gorham’s six remaining dispatchers would have jobs.

His recommendation included a proposal that would create a new clerical position at town hall, and he said the county would expand its dispatch staff by five, as it geared up to serve Gorham. Gorham dispatchers could apply for those openings. “There’s a high probability that they would hire five of our dispatchers,” Cole said.

Town Council Chairman Burleigh Loveitt said communities are being pressed by the state to consolidate their emergency 911 call centers. The state wants to reduce those call centers from 48 to as few as 16 statewide. Cole’s report said the Public Utilities Commission wants the 13 emergency 911 call centers in Cumberland County reduced to five by October 2007.

The town could keep its dispatchers, even if it no longer operated a 911 call center. Under that scenario, calls would be routed to a 911 call center before being passed on to Gorham. However, Cole has recommended consolidating both dispatching and the town’s emergency call center at the same time to save money.

Loveitt said a consolidation with the county dispatch represented a cost savings, but he is worried about the fate of Gorham’s dispatchers. “The human side of it is the most difficult side,” he said.

He praised Gorham’s dispatchers and the services they provide. Loveitt said they would be given the first opportunity to apply for jobs with the county.

Gorham dispatching has been shorthanded for a long time, leaving the town’s dispatchers to work a lot of overtime hours. Some have been working up to 60 hours a week. They handle 100,000 calls a year. “It’s a very difficult job,” Loveitt said.

Loveitt was undecided on Tuesday about how he’d vote on the issue and said the council needs to consider the change carefully. “I’m not too wild about county government growing, but I’m realistic that things change,” he said. “It’s a tough subject.”

Town Councilor Phil Dugas also had concerns about county government getting larger. “I like the dispatching the way it is,” Dugas said.

He said Gorham dispatchers knew the town and its people. Dugas likes the personal touch that Gorham dispatchers give to the townspeople. “Right now, I’m pretty happy the ways things are,” he said.

On Tuesday, Town Councilor Calvin Hamblen hadn’t yet read Cole’s recommendation. But, “I’m not too enthused about the idea,” he said.

Trixi Morin was the first dispatcher to learn of the recommendation on Monday. She feared that Gorham dispatchers wouldn’t have jobs in a consolidation as the county has reserve dispatchers, who could get “called up” to full time. “There’s no guarantee” the county would hire Gorham dispatchers, said Morin.

Morin said Gorham dispatchers have been working without a contract. She also said the Gorham Police booking room, which is monitored by dispatchers, had already been closed down. Morin said police officers are taking arrested suspects directly to county jail.

Cole said there were two key elements in his recommendation. He said confusion would likely occur if Gorham kept its dispatchers while consolidating just the emergency 911 call center.

When the emergency 911 system was created, the state provided municipalities with some of the equipment. Cole’s report said the Gorham dispatcher center would lose computer screens, showing a caller’s information, such his or her name, address and phone number. His report also said calls could be lost or delays could occur in relaying calls to a Gorham dispatch center from an emergency 911 call center.

He said another factor in consolidating was the rising costs to Gorham for dispatching, compared to the rise in county taxes. His report showed that in the past year county taxes increased 2.65 percent while the town’s dispatch budget jumped up 13.8 percent. In the past eight years, the county tax went up 56 percent, compared to a 130 percent hike in the town’s dispatch costs.

In other changes recommended in Cole’s report, a clerical job in the Fire Department would become a full time position from sharing a part-time employee with the Assessing Department. The fire department asked for a full time person in a supplemental budget request this year. Fire department personnel would takeover the calls now handled by dispatching in the Elderly Care program, which now has five senior citizens enrolled.

Poland said dispatchers have developed a familial relationship with the elderly callers who live alone. They habitually call everyday at the same time. “When the phone rings, I know who it is,” Poland said.”We’re their first call, it’s important to them.”

If they don’t hear from a regular elderly caller and don’t respond to a call, dispatchers send a police officer. Poland worries about the future of the program.

Under the recommendation, the animal control officer position would evolve into a utility officer, who would also do traffic control.

Earlier this year, Westbrook made a formal offer to Gorham to takeover dispatching, but it wasn’t the first time the neighboring communities had talked about consolidation in recent years. Westbrook Police Chief Paul McCarthy said last spring that this year’s talks marked the fourth attempt.

McCarthy couldn’t be reached for comment this week following Cole’s recommendation.