DEXTER, Maine–The patrol and investigative divisions of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office here now have a spacious new office space after Maine Highlands Credit Union donated $145,000 to allow it to purchase a new building. The divisions had been operating from a 267-square-foot space in a structure originally built in 1886.
The sheriff’s office had been counting on a county referendum that was on a July ballot for voters to consider, before MHCU donated the money to purchase the former KeyBank building in Guilford, Maine, according to The Piscataquis Observer. Voters approved the funding, but it became moot with the credit union’s donation. The new building will offer 3,200-square-feet out of which to operate.
“It was so out of the blue,” Sheriff Bob Young told the Observer of the credit union’s donation. “If I were to make a list of things that might happen, that never, ever would have been on the list. I just couldn’t have imagined it.”
Young told the publication he first learned of the donation during a phone conversation with Rhonda Taylor, CEO of Maine Highlands, which has five branches in Piscataquis County.
“When Rhonda called and told me what they wanted to do, I’m listening and thinking, ‘Am I really understanding this right?’ Then I said to her, ‘Let me make sure I’ve got this right, you’re going to give us the money?’” Young told The Piscataquis Observer. “That changed everything. We didn’t have to worry about a referendum passing anymore or the budget going up because of it.”
Largest Donation in CU’s History
According to the report, the donation is the largest made by the credit union since it was established in 1966.
“In this time of turmoil, we wanted to show our support for law enforcement,” Taylor told the Observer, citing cited the sheriff department’s response and support when the Guilford branch of the Maine Highlands FCU was robbed at gunpoint in 2007.
Young, who said the space the two divisions have been using was so small it required asking others to leave if a private conversation needed to be held, said a grand opening is set for Oct. 1.
The new Guilford site provides each of the six employees in the patrol and investigative divisions an individual work area, and the bank’s vault will be used as an evidence locker.