Piscataquis County emergency radio system project resumes

DOVER-FOXCROFT — DOVER-FOXCROFT — For four years Piscataquis County and municipal emergency officials have been working to update outdated infrastructure and long-running problems with the county’s radio communications for emergency personnel. After delays due to questions on funding sources, the endeavor is now being overseen by a committee comprised of Piscataquis County Sheriff Bob Young, Deputy Sheriff Todd Lyford, and Dispatch Sgt. Eric Berce, Brownville Fire Department Chief Shawn Mitchell, Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department Chief Brian Gaudet, and Greenville Police Department Chief Jim Carr. There also is a 15-member subcommittee including town managers, fire chiefs, police department members, emergency medical service providers, and representatives of CPKC Railroad.

The Piscataquis County Commissioners learned more from Normand Boucher of Communications Design Consulting Group of Barrington, New Hampshire during a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

“The project was placed on hold due to funding issues,” Boucher said over Zoom.

Last year $4.2 million for the radio project was part of a U.S. Senate Appropriations bill championed by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the panel. The award was the largest of seven projects included in the part of the legislation that would give $7.6 million to police and other public safety agencies in Maine.

County commissioners paid Communications Design Consulting Group $27,000 for a feasibility study on radio communications, which was presented in November 2021. 

Before the feasibility study, Boucher spent months meeting with members of area fire and police departments and toured sites around the region, including locations of about a dozen transmitters throughout Piscataquis County. Many of the problems stem from the hilly and mountainous terrain of the region and/or aging and out of date infrastructure.

Boucher said the 2021 project recommendations included replacing end-of-life equipment, eliminating interference, and updating technology to meet current public safety standards; expand the system by reconfiguring and adding additional transmitter sites to ensure reliable handheld portable radio coverage; convert base stations to repeater operation to facilitate easier communications between dispatch and end users across the region; and provide a microwave radio system to interconnect all sites with the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center.

“We have done a few minor tasks to keep things going,” Boucher said. “That’s the goal to provide radio coverage, portably, throughout Piscataquis County.”

He said the current project status has a conceptual design being approved and preliminary work has begun on site selection, site work, and microwave routing. Design adjustments were made based on alternative sites that benefited the county. Early discussions have taken place with some transmitter site owners.

Boucher said instead of constructing new towers for improved coverage, new sites were selected based on — in order — preferred use of town- or county-owned sites with no fees, private tower sites with no incurred fees, and commercial tower companies where monthly fees are incurred. He said some sites, such as the jail, may require replacement towers or upgrades.

“Just last month we recalculated the budget for the new system,” Boucher said, mentioning he would be meeting with the radio committee later in the day. The cost estimates are $4.4 to $5.4 million.

Bouchard said the large gap stems from vendor manufacturers typically having more overhead than radio supply companies.

He said he next steps are finalizing the conceptual system design with the committee based on the latest technology and knowledge, begin negotiations with site owners, develop procurement specifications for all system elements under a single bid (assigning one contractor to build the entire system), and enter the bidding process to select the best-qualified contractor.

“The first of the year we would have a vendor on board, a contract signed, and be ready to place orders,” Boucher said. He said the estimated timeline for systems completion is 24 months.

In other business, the commissioners named a new Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency director following a series of interviews last month.

“The unanimous recommendation is our Interim Director Deb Hamlin, we take the interim off,” County Manager Michael Williams said.

Hamlin succeeds Jaeme Duggan. Hamlin had served in an interim director capacity prior to Duggan’s hire and following the 2021 retirement of long-time Director Tom Capraro.

Sheriff Bob Young said he wanted to publicly commend Sgt. Guy Dow and Corina Rackliff of the district attorney’s office for their work in an embezzlement case involving the Dewitt Machine & Fabrication Company of Medford.  He said they put in hundreds of hours into the complicated case.

Late last month Terri Moulton, 53 of Guilford, was found guilty of Class B Forgery and Class B Theft after a four-day jury trial in Dover-Foxcroft for stealing more than $700,000 from the Medford company over a period of three years.

Moulton worked as an office manager and bookkeeper for the Dewitt Machine & Fabrication Company. From January 2019 through February of 2022, she is accused of stealing more than $730,000 from the company, according to the Piscataquis County District Attorney.

Earlier reporting from the Bangor Daily News listed the embezzled money as totaling more than $900,000. In an email, prosecutor R. Christopher Almy said, “Further investigation showed $730,000 plus. That [is] what we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Almy called it “one of the largest embezzlement cases in the history of the state of Maine, certainly the largest in Piscataquis County.”

After the verdict in Moulton’s case, the Dewitt family said in a statement, “The family business had been built on a foundation of trust and hard work, and to be taken advantage of in this manner was devastating. It was a huge disappointment to endure this betrayal.”

“Thank you for all your hard work,” County Commissioners Chair Andy Torbett said to Rackliff, who was present at the morning meeting. She said the district attorney’s office is fortunate to be able to work with Dow.

“We always appreciate all of our departments,” Torbett said.

The Bangor Daily News’ Ethan Andrews contributed to this story.