D-F police building could become home of sheriff’s department patrol operations

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Over the last several months, the Piscataquis County Commissioners and officials with the sheriff’s department have looked at a pair of sites in Guilford to serve as office space for patrol officers. A third option is the Dover-Foxcroft Police Station on East Main Street, just down the street from the county complex which would continue to house the sheriff’s department administrators as well as the jail and dispatch.

“Basically the county and the town of Dover-Foxcroft are looking at a potential transaction,” County Manager Tom Lizotte said during a March 15 commissioners meeting. The March 15 session featured a 35-minute executive session with Sheriff John Goggin and Chief Deputy Robert Young to discuss the terms of purchase.

Lizotte wrote in an email after the session that the commissioners and Goggin favor the possible property transaction “but wish to conduct due diligence on such issues as a building inspection, property appraisal and future repairs that may be needed before any sale is concluded. If Dover-Foxcroft voters approve the sale of the property at the town meeting referendum on June 14, and if no issues are uncovered during the inspection and appraisal, we are optimistic that this purchase can go forward.”

The commissioners passed a pair of related motions, with the first for the county to arrange for and fund a building inspection report and property appraisal for the police station in advance of a potential sale. Sheriff’s department leadership and a local contractor were authorized to tour the site in order to develop cost estimates and a priority list for future renovations and repairs that may be needed if the property is purchased by the county.

The idea of selling the police station and having the police department relocate across town to the Morton Avenue Municipal Building was discussed by the Dover-Foxcroft selectmen during a March 15 meeting (see accompanying story). The selectmen took no action, as discussions between the community and county will continue.

In other business, the commissioners scheduled a public hearing for the Tuesday, April 5 meeting concerning the Crow Hill Road in Parkman. Lizotte said a petition signed by 17 residents was submitted to the county and per statute the commissioners must take a look at the travelway and then hold a hearing on the matter.

“It’s been an issue in past years, but this year it was really exacerbated by the heavy equipment coming in,” Lizotte said with a wind power project being constructed in nearby Somerset County. He said the Parkman selectmen agree a mile-long stretch of the road to the Abbot line is in rough shape.

“We can’t force the town to raise the money to do this,” Lizotte said. Maine’s counties do have the power to make improvements on community roads and then bill the town for the work, but such a measure would not be taken until other options have been exhausted.

In his report, Lizotte said a legislative committee voted down a bill that would have allowed for the deorganization of Cary Plantation in southern Aroostook County. He said a reason for the decision came from the fact that Cary Plantation has over 200 residents. Since no community of this size has successfully deorganized, legislators, he said, believe allowing Cary Plantation residents to do so could encourage towns with similar populations to follow suit.

“That should have some impact on Atkinson, which has 330 people,” Lizotte said about the efforts of the Piscataquis County municipality to deorganize.

The commissioners had inquired about an advisory referendum for unorganized territory residents pertaining to Atkinson. Lizotte said the Secretary of State’s office told him that such a question has never been asked before, so who funds the election, brings the paperwork to town offices and retrieves the ballots would still need to be determined.

“They are looking into what are the mechanics of this and who is responsible,” Lizotte said.

The county’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Capraro mentioned several items in his report to the commissioners. “We had a couple of ice jams a few weeks ago but now the flood potential’s gone down,” Capraro said. “We still have some time but it looks good so far.”

The EMA director said he recently represented Piscataquis County at a Red Cross volunteer ceremony. David Morrill, who is the superintendent of the Greenville Consolidated School, was honored by the organization he has been working with for 46 years.

“It was nice to represent the county like that,” Capraro said.

Emergency operations center trainings have started, Capraro said with these sessions being scheduled throughout the region. “It’s not sheltering, it’s command centers,” he said, with some towns already having such sites identified while other communities do not presently have such locations in place.