ROCKLAND — A new 4-week plan by Knox County for hiring dispatchers at the Knox Regional Communications Center is being enacted, and the City of Rockland is giving Knox County only those four weeks to determine a success rate. If, by March 12, 2025, the Knox Regional Communications Center hasn’t hired enough dispatchers, then Rockland will proceed with drastic plans to dissolve its membership in the regional 911 communications system and build its own.

Wednesday, Feb. 19, City Manager Tom Luttrell met with County Commissioner Marc Ratner and heard about Knox County’s plan. He then returned to City Council to encourage Rockland’s back-up plan for emergency communications.

That same evening, Rockland City Councilors voted 4-0 in approval to authorize the City Manager to give 90 days notice to Knox County at any time when the manager, the fire chief, and the police chief feel that the County’s rehiring efforts are still not working.

The chiefs don’t want to break away, according to Fire Chief Chris Whytock during the meeting. Yet, after as many as two years of the same cycle of problems, the same conversations, the same promises, the two Rockland chiefs have heard enough.

“We’re now seeing the lowest of the low,” said Whytock.

KRCC once boasted a 12-14 person roster of dispatchers. They are now down to one certified dispatcher for each of the two shifts in the 24-hour day. After next week, they’ll be down to one. A few un-certified employees are helping in the facility, as are off-duty, and sometimes on-duty officers, who sometimes are able to mitigate law enforcement calls. Yet, without the  Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) training and certification, the bulk of the burden still lands on that one certified dispatcher.

“It kinda helps,” said Police Chief Tim Carroll. “But, it’s not real help.”

Whytock alluded to an example that played out just prior to the 5:30 p.m. meeting. In the space of 5 minutes, all three Rockland ambulances were called to three different medical concerns, while a possible structure fire in St. George required notifying three mutual aid fire departments and tracking them to the scene. (The call turned out to be a contained oven fire. Mutual aid was canceled while still en route.) Last week, in the northern part of the county, a serious crash required coordinating two EMS agencies, deputies, LifeFlight, a towing company, and more, all with the one certified dispatcher.

With each call coming in, and the time required to document and dispatch those calls, minor delays are occurring, and increasing in the average duration. An 8-minute delay notifying Rockland EMS of a need for an ambulance constitutes a major problem for Whytock.

“One dispatcher is there, answering the phone, dispatching the calls,” he said. “Nobody can tell me that the safety factor is there with that one person.”

Whytock added that dispatch shortages are a national problem, and even if the KRCC had 100 dispatchers, everyone would still be overworked, over stressed. But, for the current situation, on a day to day basis, there’s no way that, even just for Rockland, safety can be maintained, let alone for the rest of the county.

If Rockland breaks away, the plan is to have Waldo County certified dispatchers perform the PSAP portion of the 911 call, then transfer the call to Rockland, where uncertified personnel can transmit the calls to responders. The PSAP piece remains critical, yet certification is hard to get and takes a long time, according to Whytock. The boots on the ground who recieve and transmit the Rockland calls from Waldo might require a week or so of training, but are of value for their knowledge of their own communities. (A previous one-time issue when working with Waldo County brought responders to the wrong address.)

With this new model, Rockland will reach out to other Knox County towns to see if they are interested in joining the new approach, which is not new to Maine. The hope is that those towns will commit prior to budget season, when Rockland eyes creation of a seven-member dispatch operational center with an $804,549 budget.

Whytock has talked with the Bar Harbor fire chief about that town’s similar approach. Other towns in southern Maine also collaborate on 911 communication. Locally, the interest exists. Whytock couldn’t speak for all chiefs in Knox County, but he’s heard from at least five who state a definite interest. Whether they are interested or not, all eyes are on Rockland right now.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com