Huntington Woods to Consider Dispatch Contract with Ferndale

The Huntington Woods City Commission will consider a proposal from Ferndale to provide dispatch services for the .

Ferndale City Manager April McGrath said talks regarding the proposal began while Ferndale Interim City Manager Mark Wollenweber was still working for the city. .

If the proposal is approved, Ferndale would recieve emergency calls and then dispatch them to Huntington Woods' Public Safety Department.

Huntington Woods City Manager Alex Allie said that the proposal was officially submitted a couple months ago and that Berkley, which currently provides dispatch and jail services, is aware of it.

McGrath said that the contract would generate $60,000 in revenue a year for Ferndale. The contract would also save Huntington Woods nearly $40,000 a year.

"I am obligated to put it on the agenda for the commissioners to consider," Allie said. "It's a significant savings for us, so we can't ignore it."

Berkley City Manager Jane Bais-DiSessa said Huntington Woods pays $99,314 per year to receive dispatch and jail services 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the .

"I believe we provide excellent services at a fair price," said Bais-DiSessa, who added Berkley is not considering a counter-offer at this point. "We are neighbors, we know each other and we work well together. It's been a good relationship for more than 15 years."

Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins said if the contract were to be approved, the extra workload would be managable.

"I feel confident we can handle the additional workload if this agreement is approved," he said. "When this was proposed I was asked to look at Huntington Woods' 911 call load, non-emergency call load, Computer Aided Dispatch load and their prisoner numbers. If this is approved, there will be several meetings to work out the details of how it will work, but the basics are doable."

Shared services and collaborations with neighbors

McGrath said this potential proposal is part of the city exploring collaborating efforts with neighboring cities.

"We're always looking at options to do better," she said. "We're always going to be looking at sharing services (with neighboring communities) now. When we have talks with other cities, that's the first thing they ask us -- What we're doing to share services."

Gov. Rick Snyder has encouraged local governments to consolidate services in order to qualify for statutory state-shared revenue funds, which has sparked new partnership proposals throughout the state. .

As part of the collaborative efforts, Ferndale and Hazel Park have entered into a shared study, facilitated by the Michigan Municipal League, . "We're still in the study and research phase," McGrath said.

Ferndale also provides fire service to Royal Oak Township and, as of right now, fire and emergency medical services to Pleasant Ridge. Yet that contract, which has been between the cities for 88 years, is in question, as or to pay Berkley for a fire and emergency contract. McGrath, however, said Ferndale is still in negotiations with Pleasant Ridge for beyond 2013.

Currently, the contract with Pleasant Ridge is about $265,000 in 2012, and has decreased the last handful of years. If Pleasant Ridge were to not pick up a new contract for 2013 with Ferndale and go with Berkley for fire and emergency protection, it would cost Pleasant Ridge about $104,000 for the first year.

Bais-DiSessa said Berkley did not seek out a fire contract with Pleasant Ridge saying "The city of Pleasant Ridge came to us."

She added that a public safety agreement with Pleasant Ridge is not set in stone.

"As we study it, we may decide that this is something that doesn't work," Bais-DiSessa said. "Things can change very quickly. The council may not approve it. We don't even have an agreement yet."

Allie said it is unlikely any action will be taken Tuesday night on the Ferndale dispatch proposal. A six month notification is required if Huntington Woods were to opt out of its contract with Berkley and a new agreement would need to be drawn up with Ferndale.

"I don't know what will happen," Allie said.