FREEPORT — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has found in favor of the town and denied an injunction sought by residents who opposed outsourcing emergency dispatch services to the town of Brunswick in 2010.

Marianne McGettigan, who has a physical disability, and Donald Rice, who has a medical condition, fought the outsourcing because they believed it would diminish public safety.

The Town Council voted to outsource emergency dispatch services in April 2010 and authorized Town Manager Dale Olmstead to enter into a six-year contract with Brunswick starting in July 2010, according to court records.

The goal was to eliminate Freeport’s own dispatch service, which would have cost more than $250,000 in fiscal 2010-11, and have Brunswick take over for a one-time capital investment of $122,500 and annual payments of $120,000, according to town records.

However, the town charter requires that multi-year contracts be “made or approved by ordinance.” So, the council held a public hearing in October 2010 and approved an ordinance that ratified the contract with Brunswick several months after Olmstead signed it.

McGettigan and Rice challenged the council’s action in Cumberland County Superior Court. Justice Nancy Mills found the case to be moot and dismissed it because the council had complied with the town charter by passing the ordinance.

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McGettigan and Rice appealed Mills’ decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which reviewed the facts of the case in January.

The justices concluded that Mills made an error in determining that the case was moot, according to a decision issued Thursday.

Instead, the justices found, the council complied with the town charter because it doesn’t stipulate that the council must approve an ordinance before a multi-year contract can be drafted or signed.

The justices vacated Mills’ dismissal and returned the case to Superior Court for a judgment in favor of the town and denial of the injunction requested by McGettigan and Rice.


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