FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to hire two new dispatchers to fill vacancies at the Regional Communications Center.

Center Director Stan Wheeler said Jeannine Fletcher of Wilton was the top candidate. She would be a full-time night dispatcher. She has extensive experience with computer programs and “great background in providing excellent customer service,” he said. She has no public safety experience.

Dean Robinson of Jay will be the utility dispatcher. He has previous experience in public safety as an emergency medical service technician for NorthStar EMS ambulance and as a firefighter on the Jay Fire Rescue Department. He does not have dispatcher experience.

Both dispatchers will serve a six-month probationary period. Both will undergo dispatch training.

Wheeler also updated commissioners on installation of the new dispatch console. It is expected to go live next week but they will keep the old console to make sure everything is working with the new one. After a week or so, the old one will be removed, Wheeler said.

The older console is still in production, Wheeler said, but at 12 years old, it is near the end of its useful life.

Carrabassett Valley has expressed interest in the old console, he said.

Dispatchers are in the midst of working on an emergency plan in case they have to leave dispatch quarters for some reason. They are working on a memorandum of understanding with Farmington Police Department that the could set up temporarily there, he said.

Commissioner Charles Webster of Farmington asked Wheeler to have Rick Davol, who is installing the new console, to determine the value of the old one.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net