Knox County is expected to close its public safety dispatch service because of staffing shortages.
The Knox County Regional Communications Center is budgeted for 10 dispatchers, but only has four, Andrew Hart, county administrator, told commissioners at a meeting Thursday evening. County officials said one or two other dispatchers are also expected to leave soon.
County officials suggested Thursday that they could instead rely on the Waldo County Regional Communications Center to answer 911 calls and direct them to appropriate local public safety office.
In a statement issued Friday evening, Hart said that the staffing issues do not mean that the Knox County Regional Communications Center itself is closing.
"To manage this situation effectively we are partnering with a nearby public safety answering point that will handle answering our 911 calls," he said. "This collaborative effort will ensure that emergency 911 calls are answered promptly and without delay. Additionally to maintain 24/7 coverage, we will be supplementing our existing full time dispatch staff with assistance from various members of law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies. These public safety personnel will work alongside our dedicated dispatchers to provide round the clock dispatching of emergency services.
Local public safety officers said at Thursday's commissioner meeting that dispatchers are leaving because the pay is too low and they're working too many hours.
"One of your dispatchers, from what I understand, made $172,000 last year with overtime," said Thomaston Police Chief Tim Hoppe. "That's a lot of hours."
Rockland Assistant Fire Chief Adam Miceli said the problem became worse during the pandemic.
"As soon as we started losing people at a faster rate, and these folks started working exorbitant amounts of overtime, that immediately puts stress on them, and immediately makes them want to go somewhere else," he said.
County officials said Thursday they believe the dispatch services could eventually reopen, especially if pay raises are approved for dispatchers. Until then, local public safety officers warned that their response times may be slower under the new arrangement with Waldo County dispatch.
