PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — City Council members from Presque Isle and Caribou met Nov. 19 at Northern Maine Community College to continue their discussion on ways the two communities might be able to combine services, saving both cities money.
The focus of this latest meeting — the third such session since the concept of sharing services to cut costs arose earlier this year — involved two departments: fire and public works. On the fire side, the chiefs from each community spoke on how Presque Isle could get into the ambulance business, using Caribou as a model — an idea that would require additional personnel to handle the added calls. For public works, talk continued on staffing and other aspects of combining duties to provide adequate coverage to both municipalities, especially come winter.
Present at the meeting were: Presque Isle City Manager Jim Bennett; Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess; Presque Isle Fire Chief Darrell White; Caribou Fire Chief Scott Susi; Caribou/Presque Isle Public Works Director Dave Ouellette; Presque Isle City Council Vice Chair Randy Smith, and Councilors Pete Hallowell, Craig Green, Bruce Sargent, Mike Chasse and Dick Engels; and Caribou Mayor Gary Aiken, Deputy Mayor Kenneth Murchison, and Councilors Phil McDonough II, Shane McDougall, Joan Theriault, David Martin and David Genthner Sr.
“We’re specifically asking for guidance at the end of the night on a couple items. On the public works side, we’ve done enough review to believe we should continue to the next level. We also believe we’ll be back together in January or the first of February on this, as well as joint dispatch,” said Bennett.
Bennett said the rest was “informational.”
“The ambulance is a policy decision the Presque Isle Council needs to make — either tonight or at our next workshop Dec. 2,” Bennett said.
Bleess said IT (Internet technology) sharing “plays a large role for both communities in everything we do.”
“Both use the same types of software, programming. What’s missing is the info link between communities,” said Bleess, noting the cost to connect the two cities would run around $3,000. “We’re ready to roll on that.”
As to the joint dispatch issue, Bleess said he and Bennett met with both police chiefs, Mike Gahagan and Matt Irwin, but that “more information needed to be gathered with regard to joint dispatch and holding cells, since both use Caribou’s cells, as does the courthouse.”
“We’re also looking at a couple other options, including county and state (dispatch services), to see if that might be cheaper. When we meet in January, we’ll know better what our options are,” Bleess said.
The meeting was then turned over to the fire chiefs White and Susi.
White began, noting PI officials were looking to Caribou for guidance, since they’ve been in the ambulance business for nearly 30 years. He discussed the purchasing options of buying new for up to $190,000, a re-mount for about $100,000 or looking for a used unit with reasonable miles. He provided information on what it would cost to equip an ambulance, the added manpower necessary to maintain the service, and related fees.
“For staffing, we’ve come up with six new employees would be necessary, in this proposal, to staff the ambulance. If the council chose to say ‘we want four firefighters for two-in two-out, we’d still have two for the ambulance and four to respond to fires. We’d maintain the same exact service level at the PIFD as we have today,” said White.
White said Presque Isle’s initial capital investment would run about $304,000 and include: a new ambulance at $170,000, one re-mount unit at $90,000, and EMS equipment and supplies at $22,000 per unit. He offered a conservative figure for projected net revenue of roughly $30,000.
“We’re estimating our operational cost around $499,516, which includes benefits and overtime. Based on 1,322 calls last year, we came up with a revenue figure of $528,800, for a net revenue of $29,284,” said White.
“That’s our plan. We have all kinds of ways we can go. We’ll see if there’s interest and where we can go, then proceed with adjustments,” he said.
Councilors questioned various aspects of the presentation. Bennett noted actual figures would likely be higher.
“We know the numbers are conservative and know the numbers will be better. This maintains two-in two-out that we currently have. Recommending staffing at five, 20-30 percent of the time could compromise the two-in two-out. If we don’t have an ambulance, it could mean we’d be compromised 100 percent of the time to go to three firefighters (per shift). It makes more sense to compromise 30 percent of the time,” said Bennett.
Susi said it was “a modest estimate.” He said there were many models to follow and that costs vary.
“Yeah, we’re in co-ops. You can join a co-op. There are ways to save money,” said Susi, adding he and his crew are available to help PIFD establish an ambulance service and answer any questions they might have.
Bennett indicated PI officials had met with representatives for Crown Ambulance Service/The Aroostook Medical Center to discuss ambulance needs in the community and that talks are continuing. No decision was made on PIFD establishing ambulance service at this time, with talks slated to continue at a future date.
The group then switched to discussing the public works department.
Bleess said as it stands, Caribou’s staffing could go down by one in 2014, with other reductions possible.
“We’re looking at a 28-man crew. That would be a reduction of four full-time people, which translates to $160,000 in savings, but that’s not cut in stone,” said Bleess.
He said there were many things to take into consideration, from the number of “lane miles” each community has to maintain to labor contracts and where the new department would be based. With Presque Isle’s facility there’s a debt, while Caribou’s is debt-free, he said. If completely combined, Bleess said it would create “a sort of RSU-type unit.”
Martin questioned if anyone had looked at the respective contracts, noting “no one will want to give anything up.”
Bennett said as a quasi-municipal corporation, new personnel rules and policies would need to be adopted.
“I don’t want to save money because we broke two unions for a cheaper labor force,” said Martin.
Bennett said there was a pay difference between the two municipalities.
“I do know there’s a pay difference of about $2 per hour, with Presque Isle employees being paid more than Caribou’s,” said Bennett, noting the creation of a new public works entity would require employees to re-apply for positions — those with good work records had nothing to worry about.
Murchison questioned if this was the simplest way to come to an agreement, by “creating more government.”
Bennett said it was the most efficient way to get more savings.
Ouellette noted differences between the two communities, especially with regard to snow removal.
“The big stress of any public works department is the winter months. That’s the hard part to deal with. If it rains, you have to sand. You can’t wait to do something like you can in the summer,” said Ouellette. He said he’s been in Presque Isle long enough now to know the urban compact zone is about double that of Caribou’s.
Participants discussed various aspects of combining the two departments, including comparing the types of roads staff would have to maintain. Ouellette urged the need for a foreman, saying if anything happened to him (Ouellette), “Presque Isle would be in bad shape.”
“I’d like everyone to know both crews are very good. Councilors need to understand, when looking at less employees, you start to have a reduction in services. If we go with less, what will we lose? Both cities have suffered losses and adjusted, but I’m not sure it can continue. I’d like to be involved in these talks. Figures reflect a slight reduction in service has little effect in the summer, but if someone’s out sick, something doesn’t get done. That needs to be considered,” said Ouellette.
Municipal officials from both communities will resume discussions on combining services likely after the first of the year.
