State Sen. Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, says he is “disappointed in the Public Service Commission’s decision to overlay a second area code into the 315 area.

If a report due in October indicates that the 315 numbers will not be exhausted as quickly as predicted, commissioners agreed that they could put that plan on hold for the time being.

“I am disappointed to hear the news that the Public Service Commission decided to recommend an ‘overlay,’ which would require people to dial 10 digits to make a call—even to other 315 numbers,” Ritchie said. “From business owners to family members concerned about how their elderly relatives would adjust, throughout the past month, I heard from hundreds of constituents who didn’t want the change.”

Ritchie’s 48th Senate District includes most of northern and western St. Lawrence County.

“With hundreds of thousands –if not millions—of unused numbers still available, I believe that regulators didn’t adequately show why the change is necessary and that they should have should looked to technology to help allow the continued use of seven-digit dialing by recapturing unused or returned phone numbers to expand the available supply before taking action,” Ritchie said. “In the coming months, I will work with the other members of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee to watch closely how the PSC implements this change to make sure the impact is minimal on consumers, businesses and our region’s economy.”