Knox County Commissioners schedule special meeting: personnel issue followed by union action
ROCKLAND – Knox County Commissioners will convene Monday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. for a special meeting that begins with a public comment period, followed by an executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Commissioners will then reenter its public meeting to act on a retention and recruitment policy for Knox Regional Communications Center staff, as well as a memorandum of understanding between the county and the National Correctional Employees Union.
The meeting will be at the County Courthouse in county offices at 62 Union Street in Rockland. It will be streamed live.
In early August, Knox County’s regional 911 call center reported a personnel exodus, leaving the emergency dispatch with a staff of four instead of the budgeted complement of 12. The center falls under the purview of county administration, and is funded by all property taxpayers in Knox County. The county 911 emergency response system has been in place since 2001, gradually adding all of Knox County municipalities to the network, and centralizing emergency dispatch.
While there were several factors cited, one of them concerned a lack of communication between county administration and the union representing the remaining staff members. At the time, those employees were in the process of decertifying from their union, the Knox RCC Association, and joining the Maine Association of Police, a nonprofit that serves as a bargaining agent for its members.
At Monday’s meeting, the Commissioners will take up the union discussion.
As agreed by the Commissioners in August, the county would take a deliberate approach to hiring staff and rebuilding the KRCC. In the interim, the county is relying on Waldo Communications Center in Belfast for handling 911 calls.
As of Sept. 26, according to the regular updates sent to Knox County police, fire and EMS chiefs, the KRCC had four full-time employees with a higher level of operation, with one more scheduled to begin Oct. 5; one full-time with limited access and another starting Oct. 1; five per diem employees with a higher level of operation for calls and nine per diems with limited access.
Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657
