First, I want to say that I believe if done correctly with the right circumstances consolidating resources is a great idea. With that said, I’m not sure where I should begin on the topic of the Gorham Town Council voting to move the communications center to Cumberland County. As the union president of the Gorham firefighters, I knew little about the topic until the night of the vote. I do know that there was little discussion of the issue with the unions that this service would affect. And the night of the vote was the first time the county promised the current dispatchers positions if they chose to apply for them. All that had been said prior to then was that they would have to apply and maybe they would get hired. I believe this was a last-minute effort to make the “deal” more appealing to the Town Council. My question to the fire and police chiefs and town manager is why was this a closed door deal, if it is such a great idea. I can answer that pretty easily; it is because it is not a safe, cost saving idea. They want you to believe that it is, but where is the savings to the tax payers… The money is already spent.

On the topic of safety, the Gorham Dispatch currently is staffed with two dispatchers 18 hours out of the day. When the communications is moved to the county, they are going to have one dispatcher handling police, fire and emergency medical services. So I know that things will get missed, by no fault of the dispatcher. I am not sure if you’re aware that currently the Gorham Rescue is only staffed with one Paramedic from 6 a.m. to midnight. Then there is at least a driver or emergency medical technician with the paramedic. There is not a day that goes by when the rescue is putting out tones for a driver. This one dispatcher now will have to do all of this alone, so please accept my apology to the towns people in advance when it takes time to find your home or when we do, that the time is longer on scene waiting for more personnel. And, for the police officers who call for help and have to wait for Gorham Car-1 to clear the air so they can answer the police officer and to Gorham Car-1, please be patient when they are busy with an assault and you request additional man power or equipment to the second-alarm fire. These issues are just a few, there are many others I am sure that will arise in the future.

When asked today how is the attitude at the station, two words come to mind, somber and distrusting. The employees feel sold out to the lowest bidder, and because of the fact that this was done by the fly-by-night method, no one is sure of what else is coming (Do we believe what we are told anymore from our administrators?).

In conclusion, I would like to make this statement: This move was done without the due regard for the public safety employees and the safety of the residents of Gorham. The fast hasty way this whole thing went down is unethical and shady. We feel that the town is pushing this so that when the petition has been handed in with all the signatures and the taxpayers can actually have a say it will be “well now, it will cost more money to move everything back.” So, to the administrators, what happened to the four to six weeks for this to be complete? You all know that you knew when the contract was going to be signed. Funny thing is no one else knew. Why is that, and, finally, if this is such a great idea, why did the county administrators place a “gag order” on their dispatchers? Also, the town stated that no one would lose their jobs. What about all of the part-time dispatchers Gorham currently employs? They no longer have jobs. To me, those are jobs lost, and I don’t want to get started on the way the town fired the dispatcher who chose to not go with county. All I have to say is letting the dispatcher know at 2 p.m., when her shift ended at 3 p.m., is very shallow for lack of a better word.

James Paul is president of the Gorham Windham Professional Firefighters IAFF L4095. Paul, who lives in Windham, is a former Gorham resident.