Don't outsource Gorham's dispatching

The town of Gorham is quietly trying to shut down our public safety communications center and to eliminate our dispatchers, jobs. Our dispatchers are a group of eight dedicated, highly skilled, caring, and professional employees. I am proud to be the spouse of one of them.

These dispatchers receive over 25,000 calls a year for service ranging from emergency 911 calls to daily Community Cares calls to check on the well-being of shut-ins and senior citizens. They dispatch police, fire, and rescue personnel and apparatus based on the type of call received, and they are the communications link to the outside world when crews are on scene. They monitor the safety of police officers responding to dangerous calls. They know our town and us intimately. They are able to pinpoint a child or an out-of-town caller on a cell phone because of this unique knowledge.

I am deeply disappointed and angered to learn that under the misapplied banner of regionalization, Gorham has sought and has received written proposals from Westbrook and Cumberland County to hire another agency to do for us what our own staff already does so well. I attended the annual Police Benevolent Association meeting on May 15th and watched as five of our dispatchers received awards and commendations from Chief of Police Shepard for their hard work, professionalism, dedication, and for the difference they have made in lives of Gorham’s citizens. We should be proud of their accomplishments. Why would we want to fire them?

Gorham claims that Gov. Baldacci’s mandate to reduce the statewide number of 911 call centers from 48 down to 24 or less is the motivation behind their efforts to eliminate our communications center. Gorham has one of these call centers. This step backwards is unlikely to maintain the same levels of safety and security for Maine citizens that we currently enjoy. Nevertheless, even if Gorham is forced to have another agency receive incoming 911 calls because of a reduction, that is no justification to eliminate our own dispatch center. Another call center could just transfer the 911 calls to us. Many communities in Maine already operate this way.

Make no mistake about it, the euphemistic regionalization concept embraced by Gov. Baldacci is his attempt, as all executives do, to create a legacy, a way to be remembered when he is known as former Gov. Baldacci. We, however, will be coping with the lingering effects of his vision for years to come. We need to do what is right for Gorham and to resist outside political pressure to conform.

I requested complete copies of both proposals under the Freedom of Information Act. They were brief and vague. The proposed service fees seem grossly underestimated, but of course, once our communications center is gone, our new outside service providers can always “adjust” their fees accordingly. Capital improvements (radios, consoles, computers, etc.) are not included in their proposals. Those costs are open ended. The proposals do not include any provisions to hire our displaced dispatchers. They would be forced to apply and compete for any new positions that may open with those other agencies. For those lucky enough to be hired, they would become the junior employees and the most vulnerable to a layoff. They deserve better.

Can we save some money by outsourcing dispatch? I do not know and I am not sure anyone really does, but I am far more concerned about what that move would cost us. Who’s next? The police? Public Works? It is a slippery slope. Any move toward outsourcing vital town services would erode our sense of community with a resulting loss of local control to make the decisions that affect us. I for one have no interest in abdicating our responsibility to manage any part of our town to a bigger, more powerful county government or to another city. If anyone believes that bigger is better, one needs to look no further than Augusta to see the fallacy of that belief in action (or inaction). While the state is in a financial crisis and is borrowing money to cover spending, Gorham will be enjoying a significant reduction in the FY06 tax rate while our own communications center remains fully funded in the annual budget approved just last week. There is no financial crisis in Gorham because Gorham is a well-managed town.

More than once, I have heard members of the Gorham Town Council express their displeasure with the high cost of county government that we must pay with little or no recourse. I understand that Gorham has town council representation at a rate of one councilor for every 2,000 residents. Cumberland County government has three commissioners making the rate one commissioner for every 85,000 people. Why in the world would we even consider letting them have even more control of our community?

I believe that residents want and appreciate the services the town provides. I am confident that outsourcing our dispatch services would not be an improvement, and I believe it would result in widespread dissatisfaction because of service and the cost increases that are sure to come. For example, with no dispatchers in Gorham, no one would be there to monitor officer safety in the booking room or when using the intoxalyzer. This means that our police officers would be forced to transport all arrested persons to Portland and use their intoxalyzer to check drunk drivers, resulting in their absence from the town for extended periods of time.

Once Gorham transfers its responsibility to manage its own dispatch center to someone else, we will instantly become powerless to control future costs. Cumberland County or Westbrook would send the bill and we would be forced to pay it or we would need to start shopping for another provider. Who else is there? It is a very short list. Maybe Skowhegan could do it. We have been told that it does not matter where dispatch is located. Yeah, right.

The time for action is now. Both proposals establish July 1, 2005, as the takeover date. Our dispatch center will be gone in less then seven weeks unless we act now. I urge you to ask the Town Council not to let that happen. They have the final decision. Tell them that you support our communications center and our dispatchers. Tell them to stop the endless cycle of trying to find ways to outsource dispatch. Tell them that enough is enough. Ask them to work with our staff to improve working conditions and to look for ways to reduce our own costs. A cloud of job loss has hung over our dispatchers heads for years and has significantly contributed to a high turnover rate in these positions.

These dedicated and caring employees have been there for you around the clock 365 day a year. My question to you is: Who will be there for them now? I urge you to support the continued operation of the Gorham communications center.