County officials looking at fire/rescue expenses with Millinocket

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Piscataquis County Commissioners are asking that a proposed $25,000 agreement for fire and ambulance coverage with the Millinocket Fire Department in the nearby Piscataquis County Unorganized Territories be reconsidered. The current annual price for the arrangement is $5,800 for Piscataquis County.

Piscataquis County Michael Williams recently met with Millinocket Town Manager Peter Jamieson and Fire Chief Jonathan Cote. “As you know they do everything on the east side of the county over there,” Williams told the commissioners during a Tuesday morning meeting. 

The increase from $5,800 being proposed would be $10,000 for fire coverage and another $15,000 for ambulance service. 

“Last year they had 15 calls into the UT,” Williams said. This year, in the middle of June, they were already at 12 calls so the demand is picking up.”

Millinocket officials would like to see the call volume over several years to determine a better cost estimate. They also told Williams the plan would not be based on call duration, as expenses with the Brownville Fire Department increase after two hours on scene.

“If they go out and it’s a 30-minute call they are covered under this, if it’s a 4-hour call it’s covered under this,” he said.

“In that sense, yes the base contract they are proposing did go quite a bit up to go to the combined total of $25,000 but in the long run if you have a big fire it is nowhere near as much,” Williams said.

The increase would be quite large, Commissioner Paul Davis noted, saying he would not vote for such an increase.

Williams was asked to go back to Millinocket and discuss the proposal more with these officials and then report back to the commissioners.

In other business, Williams has had weekly meetings on the Katahdin Iron Works Road construction. 

“We will be doing that until they get what they call ‘out of water’ so they get the foundation above the water level,” Williams said. 

The Atlantic Salmon Federation, in partnership with Piscataquis County, NOAA Fisheries and the Maine Department of Transportation, is working to replace two undersized culverts under the Katahdin Iron Works Road with new bridges to improve fish passage, flood capacity and the integrity of the road.

Because of the construction, the road is closed at the Bog Brook stream crossing approximately a quarter mile west of Route 11 in Ebeemee Township and at the Sucker Brook crossing, about 4.5 miles west of Route 11. 

The road between those two points is closed to traffic and access to Katahdin Iron Works, Gulf Hagas, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s lodges at Little Lyford Pond and Gorman Chairback and other points along the road is available from Greenville via the KI Jo Mary Hedgehog gate. The road closure is expected to be for five weeks to allow time for construction of the two bridges and restoration of the road surface. 

The project is funded by grants from a NOAA Fisheries Restoring Fish Passage Through Barrier Removal grant under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and a grant from the Maine Department of Transportation’s Municipal Stream Crossing Upgrade Program. 

“Dispatch is doing well, it’s summertime so everything is busier,” Sheriff Bob Young said in his report to the commissioners.

A rash of burglaries has hit Piscataquis County and nearby counties, Young said. 

“(Sgt.) Guy Dow is suburb in those cases,” the sheriff said, with some arrests likely forthcoming.

Domestic violence cases have also increased recently, Young said.