Seven Barnegat Police Dispatchers Are Out Of Work

Despite the pleas or a number of residents to keep police dispatching in-house, Barnegat Township Committee members voted unanimously to outsource the work to the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, according to The Sandpaper.

Mayor John Novak called the decision “a tough, complicated issue.”

“This was not an easy decision,” he said. “We know that with our dispatchers there is a human factor, and I really would have preferred to have kept them in-house. We all do care about the dispatchers and their families. But we are also obligated to the 23,000 people who live in town, and we have to be fiscally responsible.“

Committee members also passed a resolution terminating the jobs of six full-time dispatchers and one part-time dispatcher.

Township Administrator Martin Lisella said Barnegat spent roughly $750,000 on salaries, overtime, medical insurance and uniforms in 2014. The sheriff’s department could do the work for $340,000 annually, he said.

Residents said at previous meetings that local dispatchers were familiar with the township and would be more beneficial to Barnegat rather than opting for county dispatchers.

To read the entire story, click here.

What do you think of the Township Committee’s decision? Tell us in the comments section below.