Public, First Responders Question Potential Switch to County Dispatch

Fearing increased county taxes, compromised emergency services, and municipal employee layoffs, residents and first responders approached the mic on Tuesday to voice their concerns to the Montville Township Committee about the potential transfer of emergency service to Morris County.

Township Administrator Frank Bastone said during the meeting that he is looking at the potential for the municipality to join Morris County dispatch.

“I have had extensive meetings with the county and with our fire departments and first aid squad. A copy of my report is attached,” he said.

With his report, Bastone said the township committee now has all the same information as the fire department and first aid squad.

Bastone broke his analysis down into two parts: financial and operational.

“The financial report indicates significant savings for the municipality to go with the county, approximately $312K per year. That was the easy part.”

Bastone said he addressed operations issues with the fire departments, rescue squad and the county in a series of meetings.

“The fire department and rescue squad originally gave me a list of issues," he said. "We had a tour of the facility at the county. The issues submitted by the fire department and rescue squad were addressed. After the tour, the fire department and rescue squad felt their concerns were not adequately addressed in the first go around. I produced the document that’s contained in the report of outstanding issues that basically list the issues raised by the fire department and rescue squad, and either my or the county’s response."

“Financially there’s a significant savings to the town,” Bastone said.  “However, there are a number of significant operational issues listed here and obviously going to the county will require some adaptation and change. Issues need to be discussed and analyzed further to make a final decision on whether we go with the county or not. As I indicated in my report, the county now provides full emergency dispatch communications for more than half the municipalities in the county. I see municipalities continuing to make the move in that direction.”

Bastone said the discussion on Morris County dispatch formally began because of the possibility of being wait listed and changes to the county facility.

“I’m putting this out now because if we don’t move on this, there is potential that if other municipalities move in the system, we may have to wait until a new facility is completed in 2013,” he said.

Resident Kurt Dinkelmeyer of Douglas Drive in Towaco asked Bastone how much the transfer cost the taxpayer, and which is more cost effective. He also said that the county will build a multi-million dollar communication center and asked what will be the impact on the taxpayer.

Bastone answered the county contract amount for 2011 with the county is proposed at $274,400. He said that number represents the cost to have the service, but it doesn’t include the capital cost of radios or operational costs affiliated with radios. Regarding the cost to taxpayers, Bastone responded by saying that they are now paying for the facility and will pay for the new facility regardless if Montville utilizes the county service or not.

Committeewoman Deb Nielson asked Bastone if substantial increases might be incurred after a five-year contract expired and if there is a preferred time of year to start this system. She said she wants to hear from first responders and get their responses.

“I understand Parsippany is not going along with this and a couple of others are not," Dinkelmeyer said. "Has this multimillion dollar facility been approved?”

Committeeman Scott Gallopo replied that the freeholders put a bid out on the $28-$31 million facility, and unfortunately, “the horse is out of the barn.”

On the issue of potential job loss John Barbieri, a Montville Township police dispatcher, said he was employed in the Morris Plains police department, but left before they switched to county dispatch.

“As far as my experience, I was out of there before they did the switch," he said. "The only difference financially the town saw was that four civilian dispatchers lost their jobs, which would be the same thing in Montville Township.”

Bastone confirmed the dispatchers would be phased out if the town made the switch. 

“I’m not going to debate numbers back and forth," said Ed Watters, president of the Montville First Aid Squad. "Suddenly freeholders decided to fund this command center. I don’t know if any of you were privileged and had information from the freeholders who said we will spend between 28 and 31 million dollars. Somebody has to go back to the county and say ‘time out boys and girls. You allocated all this money, but what input did we have upfront?’ That’s the only thing I can ask you to do. How come we didn’t have a say in this whole thing?”

Cheryl Henderson, a dispatcher and veteran of the Montville Township First Aid Squad, questioned the period of time the savings would take place. She said she believed the move to the county would actually cost more when comparing the costs of radios, cars, and other costs, and that the figures in the document were not accurate.

Henderson said with only minutes between life and death she and her team recently saved a life after receiving a 911 call and promptly called cars and the first aid squad.

“That won’t happen if this goes to the county," she said. "We worked as a team to save that person’s life."

She said the county personnel do not lasting and they are stressed out.

“You sit up there with your dollars and cents all the time, but also look at operations and cost to personnel because it’s my job and my life and I had no say until now,” she sadi addressing the committee. "County fees are going to go up. Everybody knows that. These residents pay high taxes and they expect good service and that is what they get locally. They will not get that at the county. I have heard horror stories.”

Henderson urged the committee to “talk to the other towns, talk to people on my level and see what they have to say.”

Mayor Jim Sandham responded, saying the township committee is just gathering information at this point.

“We appreciate all of the public input and we are certainly going to take the health and welfare of our citizens significantly into consideration when we go into any decisions,”  he said.