September 28, 2011 Wednesday

By Katina Caraganis, Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)

A proposed regional police dispatch center now has the support it needs to move forward after the third of five towns initially asked to join has signed on to the project.

The dispatch center will include Harvard, Devens, Lunenburg, Lancaster and Shirley and will mean a savings of more than $100,000 for each community after the first year. The center would be housed at Devens. The plan only needed three of the five communities to move the plan forward with grant opportunities to fund it.

Lancaster became the third town to sign on at their selectmen’s meeting Monday night, joining Devens and Harvard, according to Lancaster Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco.

Pacheco said for selectmen, the cost savings was the key factor in their decision, but also the idea of what he called “interoperability.”

“For our public-safety services overall, this makes the most sense,” he said. “I believe the next step in this whole process is to finalize all of the grant applications.”

While an official timeline has yet to be determined, Pacheco said it would be at least two years before the facility was up and running.

He said if the board had opted not to move forward with the plan, it would likely have to hire an additional four dispatchers because of a new mandate that requires two dispatchers to be on duty at all times. “The idea of having to double your payroll and benefits creates a financial concern, so by regionalizing we can do things that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise,” Pacheco said.

Shirley and Lunenburg have not yet voted on the issue, but Shirley Chief Administrative Officer David Berry said he expects the three selectmen to vote on the proposal at their meeting Monday night.

“Strictly from a monetary viewpoint, it looks like something the town should be interested in,” said Berry. “According to their projected budgets for the next three years, the town of Shirley may be able to save around $100,000 a year, and I’m a financial person more than anything else.”

Shirley Police Chief Greg Massak, who was not available for comment yesterday, indicated during the summer that he was opposed to the idea because the town would lose its only building that was open 24 hours a day.

Massak also said that while there is the potential for cost savings in the first year, he felt there would be hidden costs in the future.

Berry said he didn’t know if the chief’s concerns outweighed the potential financial gains, but said if the town was not happy with the arrangement down the line, it could opt out.

“I don’t have an opinion as to whether those things outweigh the financial aspects. Given the financial aspects, which is key, I would tend to favor at least trying it,” said Berry.

“It’s not something we’re tied into forever. There are ways in the contract to terminate it if we aren’t happy. To me it’s worth the try. It may well be that once you try it, it may not be such a critical factor after all.”

The Lunenburg Board of Selectmen will likely decide in a special meeting, scheduled for Oct. 6, according to Town Manager Kerry Speidel.

Lunenburg Police Chief Daniel Bourgeois has expressed his concerns about the project and whether it would be a good idea for Lunenburg.

He said the fact that Lancaster has signed on doesn’t change his mind.

“My opinion has not changed, but we’re still looking at it seriously. We have to look at all angles and aspects of it,” he said.

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