AUBURN — The Androscoggin County Commission voted Wednesday to spend more than $8,000 from the county contingency fund to upgrade the recording equipment in the Probate Courtroom.

The recording system in use is a hand-held device that is unreliable and is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The court is mandated to provide a system to electronically record all courtroom proceedings and to provide transcripts of those sessions.

Deputy Register of Probate Julie Bertrand and Judge of Probate Michael Dubois sent a memo two weeks ago to new County Administrator Larry Post detailing the problems with the current system in trying to record voices from litigants and counsel from 20 feet away.

“Playback of the recordings is very difficult and lacks accuracy. In addition, there is no suitable manner of indexing the data for retrieval,” the memo said.

They described a recent situation in which a recording of a 2½-day hearing vanished. It took four days for the staff and the IT department to find the missing data.

They blamed the lack of leadership in the Probate Office for the substandard system.

“Because there has not been a consistent administrative head in the Probate Office, the steps necessary to address compliance with the rules has been neglected and has reached the point that immediate action is necessary to achieve compliance,” according to Bertrand’s and Dubois’ memo. They added that the matter should have been addressed in 2013 and 2014. It also was not included in the budget currently under review.

Register of Probate Brian Bolduc resigned two months ago. Reasons for his resignation have not been released and attempts to reach Bolduc have been unsuccessful.

Commissioners approved the emergency expenditure by a 4-2 vote at Wednesday’s meeting. Last week, the Budget Committee lent its support to using the 2015 contingency fund to update the system.

Commissioners also debated changes in the health insurance plans offered to county employees. After much research during the summer, commissioners recommended adding a PPO 500 plan to the POS-C plan currently offered.

The first one is a Preferred Provider Organization plan, which provides a network of doctors, including specialists. The POS-C or Comprehensive Point of Service plan requires a referral from a primary care doctor before a patient can see a specialist.

The two plans passed unanimously.

Post proposed adding a third option — a POS 200 — whose rates would fall between the two other plans. While some commissioners liked the concept, most were concerned about the last-minute introduction of a new option without any time to study its impact on the budget.

They were also reluctant to add the option without first consulting Commissioner Ronald Chicoine, who researched the issue and recommended the addition of the PPO 500 plan. Chicoine was absent Wednesday.

Commissioners defeated a motion to add the POS 200 plan by a 1-5 vote, with only Sally Christner voting in favor.

Commissioners’ next meeting is Dec. 2, when they are expected to vote on the county budget for 2016.

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