Town of Princeton, MA
Meeting Minutes
Public Safety Committee
October 5, 2010
Town Hall Annex
Chairman Sulmasy called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM. Members present were Jim Comer, Bill Dino, Stan Moss, Bob Sauer, Charlie Schmohl, and Neil Sulmasy. Member Jon Fudeman was absent. Also attending were Selectman Edie Morgan, Fire Chief Ray LaPorte, and Town Administrator John Lebeaux.
Acceptance of Minutes
The Committee unanimously voted to accept the minutes of September 28, 2010.
Develop questions for October 13, 2010 meeting with Regional Dispatch representatives
John reported that representatives from the North Central and City of Worcester regional programs and Sterling Fire Department Lt. Tom Kokernak will attend. The Committee will initially ask both groups to make a fifteen minute presentation, followed by a brief period of clarifying questions. The North Central program will be asked to present first as it is the older of the two study programs. The Committee will then ask questions to both or either program based on what it heard during the initial statements.
The Committee established the following questions for John to submit to both groups in advance of the meeting:
- What are the respective timelines of the programs and what drives that schedule?
- What are the proposed governance models? Will participating non-host municipalities be clients or co-owners?
- What are the current estimated annual operational and capital costs?
- What consideration been given to how smaller towns will address their needs to detain arrestees without local dispatchers present?
- What is proposed for how Emergency Medical Dispatch will be provided?
- What model is proposed to ensure there are proper staffing levels per shift to provide a consistent high quality of dispatch?
The Committee wishes to invite Jon Fitch, PMLD and Glenn Lyons, PHD to attend if interested as their departments interact with dispatch.
Develop questions for October 19, 2010 meeting with Police and Fire Chiefs
The Committee would like each Chief to give a thirty minute high level overview of their department to be followed by questions from the Committee. The Committee established the following general questions for John to submit to both chiefs in advance of the meeting:
- What is the current status of your department? What tasks does the department perform each week and how much time (by percentage estimate) of the week is spent on each task?
- How is your typical week as chief of your department spent and how much time (by percentage estimate) of the week is spent on each task?
- How do you measure quality?
- What programs/services are not being supplied now at all or at an acceptable level? What programs/services are not being supplied now that you foresee your department needing to provide in the next five years?
- Are you aware of pending /possible regulatory or statutory mandates to your department’s operation?
- Please comment briefly on the grant environment and how that affects your department’s operation.
The Committee established the following questions related to regional dispatch for John to submit to both chiefs in advance of the meeting:
- What problems currently exist in the dispatch operation and how may entering into a regional model affect them?
- What tasks/costs currently part of the dispatch operation would likely not be part of a regional model (fire permits, lockup, filing, etc.)?
- (Police only) What portion of your current expense budget is dispatch related?
The Committee also directed John to ask Chief Powers for illustrative dispatch reports to show the number of calls by time of day and by day of week for the various service calls that come into Dispatch (police, fire, EMS, PMLD, Highway, etc.) for a recent three year period.
Future Schedule
Meetings are scheduled for October 13 and 19, both at 7 PM in the Annex. The Committee will discuss its future schedule at its October 13 meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM by unanimous vote.
Respectfully Submitted,
John Lebeaux,
Town Administrator
Referenced Documents
None
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