County officials considering renting space in Guilford to house sheriff’s patrol operations

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — In November, by a 1,427-1,323 margin, Piscataquis County residents voted down a referendum question asking for permission to spend up to $610,000 to construct a new sheriff’s office building at the intersection of East Main and School streets. Over the ensuing few months, county officials have considered various options to resolve the present issues at the sheriff’s facility — such as a lack of adequate work and interview space and storage concerns.

“One of the options that we reviewed for a new sheriff’s office was having a private company build an office and lease it back to us,” County Manager Tom Lizotte said during a Feb. 2 meeting of the county commissioners. Lizotte said he heard back from two businesses that could construct a facility on the county property at the East Main and School street intersection.

He said each company’s lease would be for 20 years, with respective monthly rates of about $5,000 and $6,200. Over two decades these rates would add up to about $1.2 million and $1.5 million, much more than the approximate $715,000 cost (the bond plus interest) that would have been spent had the referendum passed.

“I cannot recommend either of these proposals because both of these are too rich for our blood,” Lizotte said.

“We keep talking about different options for this thing since the referendum when it was shot down,” Sheriff John Goggin said. Referring to a sheet breaking down calls “for help and complaints” from 2015, Goggin said the communities of Guilford, Sangerville, Abbot and Parkman comprise over 62 percent — 1,270 incidents — of the department calls to towns covered primarily by the sheriff’s office. He said the east side of Piscataquis County represents about 16 percent of calls or 326 responses last year.

“Then we took a look at really, where should we be located?,” Goggin said. “It’s plain to see if we get 62 percent of our calls from the west side of the county, that’s really where our patrols should begin.”

Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Bob Young said he has talked with Guilford Town Manager Tom Goulette about the possibility of leasing space at the former Guilford Primary School on High Street. “What we are thinking is just taking the patrol guys and giving them space in Guilford, Guilford’s what’s available now,” Young said, with the sheriff’s office administrative space remaining at the present location in Dover-Foxcroft.

Young said the school space would be leased from the town of Guilford for $2,000 a month, with utilities included. “They would be very glad for us to move in there and the school would be happy to move out,” Young said, as plans are for the SAD 4 superintendent’s office to depart from the potential space being looked at for the sheriff’s office by July 1.

“My goal is I have to find a place for these deputies to work,” he said.

The sheriff’s office is currently seeking candidates for a pair of patrol investigator positions, one for Greenville and the other for the Milo/Brownville-area. “That leaves the rest of the guys to concentrate more on the center part of the county,” Young said. Speaking of the two patrol positions, he said, “They would be visible, the chief in Greenville has offered to let us use his office and I would expect something similar in Brownville and Milo.”

Commissioners Chair Fred Trask wondered why the county would be leasing from Guilford, instead of being able to use the space at no charge as other county communities have their own police departments and communities in the Guilford-area do not have police budgets. “It’s an unfair situation that’s continued on for years,” Trask said.

“I think dedicating two officers to those areas is a positive,” he said. Trask said he likely would not vote in favor of a lease with Guilford, and he would like the public to have the opportunity to weigh in.

Young said only a portion of the former school building would be leased by the county, which would take over the last two years on SAD 4’s agreement. He said the facility is also the home of Friends of Community Fitness and a food pantry as well as a life long learning program which would move along with the superintendent’s office.

Lizotte said lease money is not in the current sheriff’s office budget, and the added expense would have to be examined to see where possible funds could come from. He said a formal lease agreement has not been drafted and county and Guilford officials would need to have further negotiations before documentation is brought to a future commissioners’ meeting.

The commissioners authorized Lizotte and Goggin to look into the possibility of an arrangement at the former Guilford Primary School, as well as research other lease options in the Guilford-area.

Greenville Town Manager John Simko said he appreciates the effort by the sheriff’s office to reach out and the Greenville Police Department is willing to work with the county. “We want to help in that way and, despite history, we have a symbiotic relationship,” he said.

Simko added that travel-time has been an issue when the county responds in Greenville, such as providing backup with an OUI arrest. “To have a patrol officer, even in Guilford, it makes sense,” he said.

In Greenville, the police department opens it doors to the sheriff’s office free of charge and Simko said his town is happy to have such an arrangement in place. He wondered that should the sheriff’s office lease from the town of Guilford, “How do I tell that to Greenville taxpayers? Please think of this.”