Westwood Council Debates Applying For Prosecutor's Grant

There was a sense of confusion at the Westwood council meeting last week when the discussion turned to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s grant for funding related to police and public safety shared services.

Earlier that day, Mayor John Birkner Jr. received Washington Township’s request for proposal (RFP), which .

The current deadline to submit an RFP to be eligible for a $100,000 grant is Nov. 15. The original deadline passed and the Prosecutor’s Office set a new date for Washington Township, Westwood and Hillsdale.

Birkner said it’s not possible for Westwood to meet that deadline.

“We can’t be limited to a deadline date to make decisions if we don’t have answers to all the questions,” he said.

The mayor asked the council to develop questions and said the council has submitted a resolution that shows interest in looking at the options that are available.

The mayor also said that the council would like to have another meeting with the Bergen County Prosecutor. Birkner said the council did not know if there would be additional funding available beyond the $100,000.

Fourteen municipalities have expressed interest in the $1.4 million of available grant money. There may be more or less money depending on how many of those municipalities apply for the grant.

There was confusion surrounding what the grant money could be used for.

There was talk of using the $100,000 for a study to find areas of costs savings for shared services between departments – one of those areas being the possible sharing of equipment purchases – and there was also talk of utilizing the money for start-up costs to switch dispatch services to the county facility in Mahwah or another dispatch service provider.  

“We’ll look at what our costs are currently, match that up with what the cost may be if we join with another municipality or municipalities, or what the cost would be to move to another service provider,” Birkner said.

Council President Robert Miller said he, along with the borough administrator and police chief, attended a meeting that was hosted by the prosecutor a few months ago.

Miller said the prosecutor explained there would be no money available for consolidating dispatch services with other municipalities. Miller said his understanding was that the money would only be available for moving dispatch services to the county, and that he would inquire as to if that condition had been changed. 

The council appeared to be in agreement that merging police departments was not an option. 

“There is zero discussion of merging entire departments,” Birkner said.

No matter what, Miller is apprehensive about considering a move away from current dispatch services. He asked for a breakdown comparison of the different options available to Westwood, both financially and service-wise. 

“To move away from what we have now as a service, we have to be absolutely certain that moving [dispatch services] is the right thing, “ Miller said, adding that he doesn’t think the grant money comes without a hitch. “People say we’re not paying for it, but we are paying for it – in tax dollars.”

He added that moving dispatch services not only affects , but the , the and the as well.

Miller said he thinks the focus should be on the study of dispatch services currently being conducted by six Pascack Valley towns: Westwood, Washington Township, Hillsdale, River Vale, Emerson and Old Tappan.

The police chiefs from each town are exploring the potential of a joint dispatch center. The six municipalities would share the cost equally.

Miller said the results from this study should be available soon.