FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Wednesday to approve the appointment of dispatcher Stan Wheeler of Farmington to the new position of communications director, effective immediately.

They set his salary at $40,414.

The action separates the Franklin County Communications Center from the Sheriff’s Department, which had overseen it. Wheeler will report directly to the commissioners.

Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. told commissioners five people had applied for the position, and a committee interviewed two. Four communications agencies were represented on the committee, which also included others, he said.

“As a result, we chose Stan Wheeler, who came out on top,” Nichols said.

He said the current budget includes $21,000 for six months’ salary.

Wheeler has 13 years of dispatch experience. He started in 2000 in Livermore Falls and has been with the county since 2006.

He also spearheaded a dispatch building committee to get the new dispatch center built across from the Sheriff’s Department offices this year.

The new generation of 911 emergency equipment is expected to be installed at the new center on Feb. 5, 2014, Wheeler said after the meeting. Dispatchers will move in soon after that.

One of the challenges Wheeler said he will face is how to maintain communications and move into the new building. He will oversee eight full-time dispatchers plus a utility dispatcher and two supervisors.

Wheeler was born in Germany and moved to Virginia when he was 5 years old, he said. During his career, he was marketing manager of business paper for Mead Corp. and oversaw a $15 million budget.

He moved to Maine in 1988 to attend the Bangor Theological Seminary to become a minister. He has been the chaplain for the Farmington Fire/Rescue Department for several years.

Wheeler will oversee an $800,000 communications budget. One of his goals, he said, is to try to take the dispatch center to the next level.

“We have a bunch of people who do a good job,” he said. “The next step is to be all that we can be. I want to make it into a world-class dispatch center.”

Commissioners acted on his first request Wednesday.

He is going to try to build the reserve dispatcher list. He asked that Tyler Richards be reinstated as a reserve dispatcher. He was a former dispatcher with the county and left a couple of years ago. He has experience on the county’s IMC computer-aided dispatch and record-keeping system, Wheeler said. He plans to get other reserve dispatchers trained on the system.

dperry@sunjournal.com