Police the Focus of Shared Services Forum

When it comes to municipal shared services, state legislators are considering tossing the carrot and keeping the stick, Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr said Thursday night at a public forum on shared services between Scotch Plains and Fanwood. Legislation introduced March 10 by Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-West Deptford, would allow a state commission to put shared service and town consolidation proposals to local referendums and, if rejected by each municipality's voters, reduce the state aid that each town receives. 

"There is a consequence, which makes trying that much more important," Mahr said before an audience of about 50 people, which was split roughly in half between Scotch Plains and Fanwood residents. 

Discussion at the forum focused on a familiar topic: the creation of joint police and public works departments, as proposed by the shared services feasibility study published in December 2009 by Cranford-based consultant Jersey Professional Management. The six-month study, commissioned by the two towns and paid for by a state grant, asserts that the towns could together ultimately save $1.5 million by implementing its recommendations. 

Mahr was careful to state that the study's proposals did not represent the only option for Scotch Plains and Fanwood. "The study ultimately gave us one potential picture of taking shared services to a higher level," she said. "It's one way to go, but it may not be the way we ultimately choose to go." 

Scotch Plains Mayor Nancy Malool, who joined Mahr in moderating the forum, added, however, that Fanwood Police Chief Richard Trigo and Scotch Plains Police Chief Brian Mahoney had met to discuss a potential merger of their departments. As Mahr explained in a telephone interview Tuesday, "It was a conversation between the two chiefs to understand what are the next steps that they would like to see." 

Some attendees voiced concern regarding how a consolidation of the police departments might affect service and safety. However, among those who chose to speak at the meeting, opinion was evenly divided regarding whether to merge the departments. 

"It just seems to me that we're at the point to say, 'Pull the trigger,'" Scotch Plains resident Alexander Smith said. 

Malool acknowledged that a merger of the police or public works departments posed some unique challenges, particularly with regard to civil service. Scotch Plains is a civil service municipality, Fanwood is not, and current laws prohibit a civil service town from opting out of the institution.

Malool and Mahr both noted that while creating joint police and public works departments would not be easy, such an action also offered the biggest potential cost savings. They added that Sweeney's legislation, if enacted, would suspend civil service rules for employees affected by shared service initiatives.  

So what's the next step? Scotch Plains and Fanwood's councils will each meet individually to discuss shared services proposals, Malool said. "We will come to some determination of, if noting else, which department we're going to look at first," she said. 

The two councils will then hold a joint meeting in April, she stated.