Town of Princeton, MA
Meeting Minutes
Public Safety Committee
November 3, 2010
Town Hall
Chairman Sulmasy called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Members present were Bill Dino, Stan Moss, Bob Sauer, Charlie Schmohl, and Neil Sulmasy. Also attending was Town Administrator John Lebeaux
Due to a shortage of meeting space at the Town Hall and the Annex, the Committee unanimously voted to recess and move the meeting to the PMLD lobby, 168 Worcester Rd.
The Committee reconvened at 7:07 PM. Members Jim Comer and Jon Fudeman were then also in attendance. Also then attending was Fire Captain Ken Whitney.
Acceptance of Minutes
The Committee unanimously voted to accept the minutes of October 27, 2010.
Discuss Regional Dispatch:
Stan reported that he had spoken with Selectmen Chairman O’Brien. The Board would like to hear from the Committee sooner than later with an analysis of options with associated costs. Stan offered four options:
- Commit to the current municipal dispatch operation and seek efficiencies and improvements.
- Join the small town regional program offered by Rutland.
- Join the big town/city regional program offered by Worcester.
- Continue to make improvements to the existing operation while observing how regional efforts develop.
John distributed a document written by Police Chief Powers that provided in draft form her responses to two questions:
- What actions are necessary and what are the related costs to connect to a regional dispatch center?
- What would need to be done to continue in an alternate manner those non-dispatch functions currently handled by dispatch?
Jim stated his support of adopting a regional approach, citing Essex County, Barnstable County, and Berkshire County.
Stan suggested that savings could amount to $110K to $150K in the first year prior to backfilling necessary tasks that would remain after adopting regional dispatch. This ball-park estimate was based on per-capita cost estimates from other regional dispatch centers. Rutland has not given cost estimates, and Worcester's cost allocation model is not clear. Stan cautioned that in any regional approach Princeton would be a customer, not a shareholder.
Charlie strongly supported the concept of cross-training municipal personnel to particularly take advantage of full-time Highway Department employees. He also suggested consideration of hiring part-time workers to add administrative support in the event of adoption of regional dispatch. Using part-timers would save the town on benefits and also possibly provide more flexibility in having a presence in the public safety building. He also stressed the tremendous value of hiring dispatchers and observing them in that capacity as a means to find quality future police officers.
Bill cited the need to improve Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) and pre-arrival instructions. He suggested a concept of a no-cost EMD model in which participating small communities use each other’s dispatchers to provide EMD while the dispatcher in the community with the incident manages communication with responders.
It was mentioned that both major candidates for Worcester County Sheriff have mentioned interest in possibly providing regional lockup.
The Committee acknowledged that savings derived from regionalization of dispatch could provide a funding source for other public safety enhancements, but questioned if that is what the Selectmen would recommend and Town Meeting adopt.
Jon asked what he saw as two fundamental questions:
- What is the real cost of Princeton adopting regional dispatch and is it less costly than the present?
- What are all the ancillary factors that need consideration?
The Committee viewed the document submitted by Chief Powers as an excellent starting point to answer the questions.
Committee members than made their current preferences known.
Jim and Stan were leaning toward a recommendation that the town join the Worcester program, but only after having all the necessary numbers: not only payroll costs, but also the integration costs with Worcester, and the costs to replicate ancillary services currently provided by dispatchers.
Jon, Bill, Bob, Charlie and Neil preferred maintaining dispatch in Princeton at this time. Bob expressed his concern with all the loose ends that would result from joining Worcester, and the methods and costs to handle each of them. Bill preferred staying in Princeton with additional training for dispatchers. He expressed concern that savings from regional adoption might not remain in public safety. Charlie wanted to have acceptable firm numbers for a five year period for any regional proposal or otherwise thought that an improved version of the current model was the way to go. Neil agreed with the concept of improving the current model for the time being. Members favoring remaining with the current model cited the non-monetary advantages of in-house dispatch that Charlie had mentioned earlier.
Stan suggested that the town seek a contractual arrangement in which costs are defined for a given term.
The Committee agreed that Neil would write a draft report to be distributed prior to the Committee’s next meeting. The report would affirm that regional dispatch is likely in the town’s future but that first, observable performance is necessary. In the interim additional training for dispatchers will be recommended.
Future Schedule
The Committee will next meet November 23 at 5 PM at which time it will review the draft report and agree on final wording. It will also identify its next topic to investigate. The Committee requested John contact the Selectmen to place a meeting with the Committee on the December 6 Selectmen’s agenda.
Other Business
The Committee asked John to arrange meeting dates in early December for Chief LaPorte and his senior officers to meet with Committee, and further to ask Chief LaPorte to develop a document with the various tasks performed by Fire/EMS and how the officers manage them.
The meeting adjourned at 9:13 PM by unanimous vote.
Respectfully Submitted,
John Lebeaux,
Town Administrator
Referenced Documents
Princeton Dispatch: cost analysis and pro forma 3 Nov 10 (S. Moss)
Public Safety Committee (responses to two questions), undated, (M. Powers
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