ROCKLAND — A resident on the island of Criehaven — the one year-round resident — is asking Knox County Commissioners to provide 911 service to the offshore island, which lies 1.5 miles south of Matinicus Island at the farmost eastern reaches of Penobscot Bay.

The request for 911 service from a resident of Criehaven was made to the county for purposes of addressing for Internet service. Criehaven is an alternative name for Ragged Island, an unorganized territory in Knox County. The island has 20 homes, of which but one is occupied year-round. The 2010 census listed the population as one.

Commissioners discussed the request at their regulary scheduled meeting Tuesday, May 14, at the Knox County Courthouse.

Andrew Hart said this was the second request from Criehaven, the first being for fire service, which the Maine Forest Service helped by providing some equipment. Hart said he was bringing the issue before the Commission to make sure the Commissioners wanted to go forward with it.

“Myself, Ray and Linwood [Lothrup] would work on this and have ready in June an ordinance, as well as an individual who would be an addressing coordinator,” said Hart. “In a meeting with the state they said that those people chose to live on a UT, something those individuals wanted to do, they knew what they would be getting for services when they moved out there. The statute says you 'may' provide a service, but that doesn’t mean you have a requirement to provide anything else, so it really just comes down to a vote by the commission. The cost would be minimal to no cost, other then having an individual do some work on it.”

Commissioner Richard Parent asked what happens now when 9-1-1 is called.

“It can’t happen because there are so many islands out there that are unorganized territories with nothing on them,” said Linwood Lothrup, Director of Knox County Communication. “We try to get the best GPS location we can and determine the nature of the emergency. We can send either Marine Patrol, or Forest Service, or even the Sheriff’s patrol, depending on what they have available.”

After a 15 minute discussion the board voted 3-0 to proceed with a plan for enhanced 911 services to Criehaven.

In other business

Commissioners approved work to be done to the courthouse windows and chimney, granted the airport manager’s request to change his administrative assistant’s hours from 28 to 32 and approved the jail’s FY 13-14 budget.

The commissioners approved paying $55,559.84 to the Penobscot Company of Rockport to replace nine windows in the Knox County Courthouse and $25,500 to repair five chimneys on the courthouse roof.

Don Decker, courthouse maintenance supervisor, said one chimney would need to be replaced and four repaired. Only one of the chimneys is in use, the others are capped.

“The chimney to be replaced is nonactive and not in use anymore, but there is no liner in it half way down and the fear is that the top will come off and come down through the roof,” said Decker. All the others need washed and painted and there are some bricks missing, but they are all capped with the exception of the one we use. The one we use is on the back side of the building and it’s for a boiler.”

Commissioner Roger Moody noted that the building is on the Register of Historical Places and therefore necessitates the chimneys stay in place. Commissioner Parent asked if the chimneys would ever be used and Decker answered, “no, never.”

In a 3 to 0 vote, the commissioners awarded the bid to Standard Waterproofing of Waterville  for the work.

Jeffery Northgraves requested to have his administrative assistant’s weekly hours increased for 28 to 32. After getting a preliminary approval from the budget committee to proceed, commissioners voted a temporary increase until December, when the increase will be evaluated.

Knox County Administrator Andrew Hart said the Maine Board of Corrections had asked the county to submit a budget for the county jail for 2014-2015. Hart said the budgets were due May 1, but to date only three counties had submitted them. In addition, he said that both the Sheriff’s Association and the Maine County Commissioners Association voted to submit a true-cost budget as opposed to a flat-funded budget. Jail Administrator Major John Hinkley explained the difference between the two.

“Real cost is what I estimate it will cost to run the jail adequately for FY 14 and 15," said Hinkley. “Keeping in mind that projecting that far ahead is guess work, no matter what you do, it’s an educated guess, but nevertheless, it a guess. Flat funding would be exactly what we had last year.”

Hinkley said he took a four year average and adjusted up for the cost of living to get his figures. Moody suggested a cover letter be added that would convey the county’s willingness to work with the DOC. The budget was approved for submittal by a 3 to 0 vote.