Commissioners recognize Spirit of America award recipients

FARMINGTON – County commissioners recognized six recipients of the Spirit of America award at Tuesday’s meeting, acknowledging good deeds within their respective communities.

The Spirit of America Foundation Tribute is administered by a public charity established in Augusta to honor volunteerism. The first recipient of the Spirit of America award was Augusta Mayor William Burney in 1991; since then, the awards have been presented at more than 500 ceremonies statewide.

Residents of Franklin County towns nominated their fellow citizens for good deeds. The award certificates were presented by commissioners Tuesday morning.

Certificates were awarded to James Boyce, a Freeman Township resident, for his services as the Trail Master of the Kingfield Sno-Wanderers Snowmobile Club; Susan Lambert of New Vineyard, the current assistant chief with the New Vineyard Fire Department, for annually putting flags on veteran graves and flowers on the New Vineyard town monument; Brian Ellis of Rangeley, for serving 58 years with Rangeley Fire & Rescue, 15 years with the historical society and as an election clerk for the Rangeley Town Office; Rita Smith of Temple, a Girl Scout leader since 2000, and a member of the Recreation Committtee, the Ladies Auxiliary American Legion and a volunteer for the Special Olympics; Jeff Chaisson and Josh Michaud, both of Wilton, for their work in refurbishing Wilton’s Main Street and volunteering time and materials in caring for Wilton’s parks.

Commissioners handed out certificates to recipients from their districts and congratulated each one for their volunteerism.

Commissioners approved an expenditure of $5,559.35 out of the Franklin County Detention Center’s reserve account to install additional cameras and make other video recording-related improvements to the jail. Those improvements are designed to eliminate “dark areas,” corrections personnel told commissioners: areas that are not currently covered by cameras. The cameras were important for identifying the instigators of incidents, Sheriff Scott Nichols said, as well as providing corrections personnel with evidence toward how incidents unfolded.

“Doing this now might save us some serious litigation down the line,” Nichols said.

The jail had seen an increase in violence in the past year, Nichols said. Incidents sometimes resulted in medical or facility damage costs which are more difficult to recoup via restitution without video evidence.

In addition to the cameras, the funds will allow the jail to save footage for longer than 18 days and provide them with a bigger monitor in the control room to view the additional cameras.

Commissioners agreed that the upgrade should occur immediately, rather than waiting for the budget process, due to both the safety concern and the county’s new insurance coverage, which is being provided by a private company rather than a risk pool.

In other business, commissioners approved expending up to $9,900 with Human Resource Partners to conduct a wage survey. Commissioners  intend to evaluate the county’s wage scale in the coming months. The funds for the survey will come out of the county operating budget; County Clerk Julie Magoon said that health insurance increases came in lower than anticipated, so savings will be available.

Commissioners also sent a letter to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in support of changing the name of a 15-acre wooded island located in the eastern half of Rangeley Lake from Doctors Island to Maneskootuk Island – Abenaki for “place of big trout.” The commissioners waited until after the Rangeley Board of Selectmen weighed in on the issue, similarly supporting the change.

Local documents, several guidebooks and mapping resources, such as Google Maps, already list Doctors Island as “Maneskootuk Island.”