MPUC Appoints New 911 Chief
October 21, 2008
Maine Public Utilities Commission
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2008
MPUC Appoints New Enhanced 911 Director
AUGUSTA, Maine – The Maine Public Utilities Commission today announced that Maria Jacques would become the new Director of the Emergency Services Communications Bureau, which oversees Enhanced 911 services in Maine.
“We are extremely pleased that Ms. Jacques is taking on this vital duty,” said Sharon M. Reishus, Chairman of the MPUC. Ms. Jacques was chosen after a national search for a replacement for the previous Director, Al Gervenack, who retired last month.
”Ms. Jacques has 12 years’ experience with Maine’s Enhanced 911 system and she is deeply knowledgeable about Maine’s emergency services network,” Chairman Reishus said. “She has demonstrated her commitment to this public service and is uniquely qualified to guide the system through its next stages.”
Ms. Jacques previously served as the Bureau’s Enhanced 911 Database Manager and in other Bureau positions, beginning in 1996. Before that she held posts in the Maine Department of Public Safety and the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
“Mainers depend on Enhanced 911 to provide timely access to emergency services,” Ms. Jacques said. “I will work closely with state, county and local emergency service officials to make sure that the system remains robust and reliable as we move into a new era of wireless and internet telecommunications.”
After a decade-long effort to create the statewide Enhanced 911 network, 100% of Maine's population now has service. Public safety officials continue to credit this system with saving lives and solving crimes.
Enhanced 9-1-1 has many public safety benefits. The two most important features are:
1. The public's ability to dial 9-1-1 for all emergencies.
2. Automatic caller location information, critical to speeding up the dispatch of emergency services.
Only call 9-1-1 to save a life, report a fire or stop a crime. For non-emergencies, use the police, fire and medical service telephone numbers provided in the white pages of the local phone book.
For more information or to arrange an interview with Chairman Reishus, contact Fred Bever at 287-6141 or at Fred.Bever@maine.gov.
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The Maine Public Utilities Commission is committed to ensuring that consumers have access to safe and reliable service for public utilities and that the rates for these utilities are just and reasonable. M PUC programs include Maine Enhanced 911 Service, Dig Safe, and Efficiency Maine.
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