AUBURN — Two first-term commissioners will lead the Androscoggin County Commission in 2016.

Ronald Chicoine of Lewiston was elected chairman at Wednesday night’s meeting. Sally Christner of Turner will serve as vice chairwoman. Both were elected in 2014.

Chicoine, the previous vice chairman, replaces Beth Bell, who declined her nomination to serve as chairwoman for another year.

The commissioners’ meeting lasted 31 minutes, with the bulk of the time spent discussing a bid for medical services for the county jail.

Commissioners voted unanimously to award the contract to Correctional Health Partners, based in Denver.

Capt. Jeffery Chute, the jail administrator, made the recommendation to go with Correctional Health Partners when Correct Care Solutions declined to renew its contract.

The new bid price of $508,068.78 for the first year is $4,000 more than the current contract.

Chute said Correctional Health Partners representatives impressed him when they toured the facility and seemed responsive to the jail’s needs. Chute said the company has received good reviews from its work in both Kennebec and Penobscot county jails.

“I feel pretty confident with them,” Chute said.

The county received two bids for the three-year contract to provide medical services in the jail, but both bids came in too high. Chute asked the vendors to sharpen their pencils. Only Correctional Health Partners came back with a lower-priced option.

The only drawback is the loss of some coverage hours.

“This is a step back a little with what we have now,” Chute said. “By a step back, I mean hours. We’re going from 16-hour (nursing) coverage to 12-hour coverage. We just couldn’t afford some of the options that they gave us.”

Despite the fewer hours, Chute said the needs of the inmates will still be met.

A health services administrator — an RN — will work 40 hours per week, with LPNs filling in during off hours and weekends. Med techs will be available to help fill holes in the coverage schedule, especially on weekends.

Hours for a social worker will be cut from 40 hours per week to 32.

“The social worker meets with inmates in need, crisis, refers them to outside resources, suicide watches and such,” Chute said. “That position is very important. Thirty-two hours per week is as low as I would want to go.”

The contract also provides for a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant to be on site for 10 hours per week and to be on call 24/7 for emergencies.

The one thing Chute wishes he had in the contract was an electronic medical records system, but the price of that service would have cost the county nearly $15,000 per year.

In other business, Bell discussed a couple of new proposals that the Maine County Commissioners Association will take up at next month’s annual meeting. One of the issues is to give each county one vote instead of allowing every commissioner to vote. Androscoggin County’s seven commissioners are the most for any county in Maine. Three other counties have five, while the remaining 12 all have three commissioners.

Elaine Makas was re-elected to the Safety Committee and the Central/Western Maine Workforce Investment Board.

County Administrator Larry Post said his staff is attempting to solve problems with the computer system in the courthouse.

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