AUGUSTA, Maine — Editor's note: This video originally aired in January 2019.
A Maine call center will stay open for another year after local lawmakers urged the state to reconsider moving its employees to another location an hour away.
Health Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said the lease at the Wilton center would continue as long as the landlord fixes spacing issues and repairs ventilation and security doors in the building, The Bangor Daily News reported Wednesday.
But vacant jobs at the call center will move to Lewiston due to crowding concerns. Next year, the health department will reevaluate whether it'll renew the lease at the same location, Lambrew said.
In 2019, the call center was opened to address questions about Medicaid and partially addressed job losses after the Barclays call center closed in the same year.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the center also grew to begin case notification and contact tracing.
Sen. Russell Black, R-Wilton, one of the lawmakers who advocated for the call center to stay open, said that the state's decision was an example of its willingness to protect rural workers.