County could host DHHS pilot program

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — In the fall, area residents and others had the opportunity to meet with Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner Mary Mayhew to tell her about the problems associated with a lack of DHHS physical presence in Pisataquis County. During a meeting of the Dover-Foxcroft selectmen on Jan. 25, State Rep. Norm Higgins (R-Dover-Foxcroft) told about the preliminary possibility of reestablishing a DHHS program in the region.

Higgins said he has attended a number of meetings since the session with the commissioner, and the department recently compiled a report on the situation in the county. “DHHS is interested in exploring the development of a pilot program in Piscataquis County for the delivery of social services in rural Maine,” he said, adding this was an unexpected move by the department and he is not sure what such a program could be.

“We have a great opportunity and now we have a great challenge,” Higgins said. He said a potential program could be “a first step in how I think we can utilize our services here and their resources for a physical presence.”

Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr asked Higgins what he thought the first steps might be. He said he was unsure who might work with the DHHS locally, but a small planning group could be formed. “I don’t think we have a specific timeframe but I’m sure we don’t want to be sitting a year from now having the same conversation,” he said.

In other business, the board passed a motion supporting a countywide approach being conducted by the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) for a proposed broadband feasibility study.

“One of the greatest challenges in our rural area is adequate or even access to broadband,” PCEDC Executive Director Christopher Winstead said, saying this initiative has been a focal point of the organization’s economic development efforts. He said planning grants are available through the Northern Regional Border Commission and the U.S. Economic Development Administration to examine the scope of broadband needs and then later to help make the necessary improvements.

“We would be able to walk away with a notebook, a plan, for each community,” Winstead said, as various Piscataquis County towns would have different needs for improving broadband access. He said Dover-Foxcroft is the first community he is meeting with, and after traveling around he will then meet again with the Piscataquis County Commissioners to see if the county will formally apply.

“You will have all the communities openly agree that current broadband isn’t working,” Winstead said.

“Everyone I’ve talked to has said this is a huge need,” County Manager Tom Lizotte said. “This is the equivalent of 1925 and saying ‘Do you want electricity in your home or do you prefer to sit in the dark?’”

“The administrative committee — we met a few days ago to begin our review of the budget and we did that,” Freeman Cyr reported.

Town Manager Jack Clukey said the budget committee will start meeting in March, “but the sub-committees will meet and talk about where we are at.”

“At our next meeting we should have bids for a pickup to replace our vehicle for solid waste,” he said in his report. The current 2001 vehicle has had issues and the time has come for the truck to be replaced. Clukey wrote that replacement has been postponed since 2012.

He also said Penquis Child Development Early Head Start will be moving across the hall at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building, expanding from one room to two. Clukey said another prospective tenant, also a daycare business, is considering leasing a room at the town office in the space that was the site of Penquis Child Development Early Head Start.

“It’s a net gain of one tenant,” Clukey said.