FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners agreed Tuesday to sell the 12-year-old Motorola radio dispatch console at the Communications Center to Carrabassett Valley for $2,000.

Commissioner Terry Brann of Wilton abstained since he was not involved in the purchase of the new console with four dispatch stations in December 2016. He became a commissioner on Jan. 1. He said he came in on the discussion and had so many calls about the purchase of the new console with people saying it wasn’t the right one and it wasn’t a good deal.

The county bought the new console offered by Zetron Inc. of Washington at a cash price of $166,516.04. Communication Consulting Service Inc. of Gray installed it for $5,000, he said.

The president of the installation company, Rick Davol, has been working as a consultant for the county to improve emergency radio communications.

Communications Center Director Stan Wheeler first brought the need to purchase a new console, which manages emergency radio communications, to commissioners’ attention in 2015. Commissioners rejected buying the console then because it was not in the current phase of the five-year plan to improve emergency communications at the time. The Budget Advisory Committee removed money for a half of down payment from the 2016-17. The other half would have come out of the 2008 tax-increment financing agreement related to the unorganized territory.

Commissioner Chairman Charles Webster of Farmington said commissioners came to the conclusion last year that the console model the county needed to be modernized.

The new console went live in April.

The older console is still in production, Wheeler told commissioners, said April 4, but at 12 years old, it is near the end of its useful life.

Webster asked Wheeler to ask Davol to determine how much the old console was worth.

Wheeler estimated in a memo to commissioners Tuesday that it would cost Carrabassett Valley $10,000 to $15,000 to upgrade and install the old console for its Communications Center.

Carrabassett Valley Police Chief Mark Lopez was on vacation and unavailable for comment on the purchase Wednesday.

In other business Tuesday, commissioners went into an executive session with several nonunion employees to discuss the affect a commissioners’ proposal would have on them in regards to accrual of paid time off.

The discussion was to be on Article 7 of the Personal Policy, covering paid leaves of absences, accruals and vesting.

The commissioners’ proposal was not made public Tuesday but it was said it would involved a decrease.

The non union employees met Monday and came to clear consensus on how they felt on the proposal, county Clerk Julie Magoon said.

They named District Attorney Andrew Robinson to be their spokesperson.

The employees accrue time on the books for paid time off and when an employee leaves county employment, they are paid up to 60 percent of what they have on the books, Magoon said.

If everyone cashed out at once it would cost the county more than $250,000, she said.

There was not expected to be any action following the session.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net