ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County will pay under protest a bill for repairs to special lines connecting the County 911 center to Long Lake in Hamilton County.

Although the County Board of Supervisors agrees Wells Communications of Plattsburgh is owed the money, most supervisors said either Long Lake itself or the Verizon and Frontier telephone companies should pay the bill.

lightning storm

County Manager Daniel Palmer said it was Verizon and Frontier that told the county Wells had to fix an outage affecting both primary and backup lines between the 911 center and Long Lake.

It turned out the phone companies, not Wells, were responsible for repairing the lines.

Wells is the county's communications vendor that installed some of the equipment, and it billed the county $6,125 for work it did after the three-day outage in August.

Palmer said a lightning storm that moved through the area took out the lines. The dedicated lines are used by the 911 center in Lewis to control Long Lake's radio system and dispatch its fire and ambulance services.

WHO PAYS?

Supervisor Roby Politi (R-North Elba) said Long Lake should get the bill.

"Wasn't Long Lake the main benefactor? Why isn't Long Lake paying for this somewhat of a fiasco?"

Supervisor Ronald Jackson (R-Essex) said Wells was called in only because the companies said Wells was responsible.

"The one you should be trying to collect from is not Long Lake but the telephone companies who handed it off."

He said County Attorney Daniel Manning III should write letters to Verizon and Frontier and try to collect from them.

"They probably won't pay, but we should try."

A MESS'