Newly elected Commissioners David Levesque and Evan Goodkowsky joined William Blodgett in Wiscasset for the first Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting of 2025 on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
During the meeting, the commissioners elected Blodgett board chair, approved hiring a new deputy communications director, and renewed a slew of contracts for services from accounting software to animal control.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows oversaw the swearing in ceremony of Levesque and Goodkowsky on Jan. 2. Both were elected in November 2024, replacing longtime Commissioners Mary Trescot and Hamilton Meserve, both of whom chose not to run for reelection.
On a recommendation from Lincoln County Regional Communications Center Director Tara Doe, the board approved the hiring of Brendan Parker as deputy communications director.
Parker has previously worked for the communications center and is familiar with local protocol and first responders, Doe said.
“We are super excited to have him back,” she said. “He is familiar with our communities, our responders, and with our processes that we have in place.”
In other business, the board renewed some annual contracts. These included leases for broadcasting towers, where some of the county’s communications equipment is mounted, Doe said. These include space on Blinn Hill tower in Dresden, for which the commissioners approved $10,395 for the annual lease, and Midcoast tower, which is used by both the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and communications center.
Rent for that tower totaled $14,400 for the year, Doe said. The commissioners approved both leases unanimously.
Other communications-related contracts renewed Jan. 7 included a service agreement for the dispatch consoles at the communications center, totaling $9,514.80, and an annual system maintenance agreement with RCM Radio Communications, a radio vendor based in Portland with which Lincoln County Communications works to maintain their broadcasting network.
The service agreement is “priceless,” Doe said. By maintaining an agreement with the vendor, the county can secure priority for maintenance of communications equipment during events like winter storms that can cause malfunctions or equipment failure due to ice or wind.
The service agreement totaled $29,943.81 and county commissioners approved its renewal unanimously.
Next, the commissioners considered a contract renewal with emergency management software provider D4H for a cloud-based system employed during storms to communicate the locations of downed trees and wires to both first responders and electrical technicians.
“We use it in every high wind storm, and it’s wonderful,” said Doe.
Before implementing this software, communications personnel receiving reports of downed trees would hand-write the location on paper, then fax that to Central Maine Power Co. personnel, Doe said. The software, by comparison, “saves so much time,” she said.
The annual contract cost of $4,160 was approved unanimously by the commissioners.
The commissioners also approved animal control service contracts between the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the towns of Jefferson and Dresden, as well as a shellfish warden contract renewal between the sheriff’s office and town of Bremen.
To renew subscriptions for three Motorola body and in-car camera systems, the commissioners approved the expenditure of $8,100. They also unanimously approved professional development and record maintenance contracts with Police One Academy and Central Square.
The commissioners also accepted a grant for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office totaling $9,900 from the Department of Public Safety. The funds will be used to purchase two speed radars to be installed in LCSO cruisers, according to LCSO Lt. Brendan Kane. The money will also cover overtime for deputies to increase their speed enforcement activities in the county.
Kane also reported 175 inmates were in custody at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset as of 9 a.m. Jan. 7. By county, the population includes 26 inmates from Lincoln, 28 from Sagadahoc, 31 from Knox, 56 from Penobscot, 22 from Waldo, five from Androscoggin County, one from Kennebec, and six federal inmates.
Of those 175 inmates, 140 were awaiting trial and 35 had been sentenced, Kane said.
Levesque asked what the average duration of stay was for prisoners at Two Bridges. That number is highly variable, but the average is likely around 17-19 days, Kane said. A longer stay is possible but “rare,” he said, citing one case in which an inmate had remained at the jail for more than a year.
The next meeting of the Lincoln County Commissioners will be held at the Lincoln County Courthouse at 32 High St. in Wiscasset at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
