HILLSDALE, N.J.—A proposal to outsource emergency dispatch services to Bergen County’s Public Safety Operations Center (PSOC) could save the borough more than $1 million over five years, according to the borough’s business administrator.
Council members have yet to vote on whether to outsource dispatch operations to the center—Hillsdale apparently would be the first municipality in the Pascack Valley to do so—but they discussed it at the March 9 council meeting.
A preliminary flat municipal budget planned for introduction April 6 assumes a switch to county dispatch services, Administrator Christopher Tietjen told Pascack Press last week.
A March 18 subcommittee meeting was scheduled with the county’s operations center manager, allowing emergency services personnel to ask questions about the possible move. Tietjen and Police Chief Robert Francaviglia were due to attend.
Meanwhile, the borough has declined to join a shared service with Westwood, which years ago invested in a state of the art communications center of its own.
In November 2018, in the lead-up to a vote authorizing the replacement of the dispatch desk console and related hardware at the police station in accordance with the state’s Cooperative Purchasing Program, Mayor John Ruocco said that embracing a shared county service for emergency communications was a matter of public safety and fiscal responsibility.
“A solution must be found in the near future,” he told the council and public.
He’d said estimates of the additional costs of keeping dispatch in-house ranged from $325,000 to $1.3 million over five years, “depending on assumptions about staffing, salary and benefits.”
Moving to a shared county service gives Hillsdale “greater depth of staff and technology and other resources,” he said. [See “Hillsdale Council Votes $318,000 For New Police Dispatch Desk,” Jan. 21, 2019.]
Last week, Ruocco told Pascack Press the council has yet to adopt a resolution authorizing him to sign an emergency dispatch shared services agreement with the county and adopt a budget that includes the reduced financial cost for dispatch operations.
One resident at the March 9 meeting asked how much county costs might increase after the initial five-year contract is up; officials said they did not believe that “sticker shock” was likely based on other towns’ experiences.
“This is an issue that has long plagued this town,” said Councilman Frank Pizzella. He said he would like to have a town-hall style meeting where residents could ask questions about the issue
Councilwoman Abby Lundy, permanent member of the borough’s Police Department/OEM committee, said that the issue arose in 2012, and the police department was against it. Now, she said, the department is in favor. She said the change of heart stemmed in part from the time-consuming investment in hiring and training dispatchers.
She wondered why Pizzella was concerned about getting the public to support outsourcing if the police and emergency services already favor it.
Pizzella explained that “perception is very important” and said outsourcing would open up savings that the public might want to discuss.
Lundy countered, “We’re not pushing anything through or ramming anything down their throats.”
Resident Tracy Jeffrey questioned how much research was done on outsourcing dispatch and wondered why local funds spent on upgrading the current dispatch if outsourcing was more economical.
Ruocco said that the borough recently invested about $325,000 in new dispatch equipment and at least half of that was required anyway to fund operations.
He said other advantages in outsourcing dispatch include advanced technology used by the county and that shared services to reduce costs are what towns must do to survive tough economic times.
He said the county’s municipalities mostly have separate police, fire and public works departments but that more shared services are needed: “It’s untenable. It cannot be maintained for the future; we’re going to have to change how we do things.”
The mayor said he saw “no degradation in service” by moving to the county dispatch center in Mahwah. As for whether the public will still be able to walk into the police department for service, he said that is a detail to be worked out.
Ruocco said he’s supported outsourcing for years and noted the savings were “considerable.” He said the state is pushing towns to focus on sharing services with dispatch services and local courts.
He told Pascack Press, “The case for moving to the county Public Safety Operations Center is compelling. I have been saying that for three years, but it hasn’t been until now that a council majority agreed with me. I am just happy that a change in thinking has occurred and hopeful that we can consummate the deal.”
He added, “The present dispatch system has been used for many years in Hillsdale, at times employing police officers to man the desk. Then in 2012, we went mostly to professional, non-police dispatchers. That reduced expenses considerably.”
He said, “In 2018, after the council decided to forego joining the county, we invested about $325,000 to upgrade the physical aspects of the police station desk. Part of that would have been spent regardless of whether we joined the county or not. So here we are about to take another step that I think will be a net win for the residents.”
Ruocco said a shared services effort to consolidate court operations is on hold, and mentioned other possible areas for shared services as ambulance service and further sharing equipment among nearby fire departments.
He said while mayors, councils, and administrators play a role in pushing shared services, “in the end it’s up to the senior officers to embrace the change for the sake of efficiency and lower costs. If everyone clings to the idea of 100% local control, it won’t happen.”
The PSOC, at the Police, Fire and EMS training facility in Mahwah, is more than 29,000 square feet, consisting of a PSAP Call Center, Dispatch Center, OEM, Public Safety Administration and an Emergency Operations Center.
Last week, Westwood Mayor Ray Arroyo told Pascack Press, “Our governing body had authorized Chief Michael Pontillo to offer his counterparts in Hillsdale WWPD’s dispatch center in a fully shared service: transparently splitting all costs 50/50.”
He said, “Both departments utilize compatible technologies and provide mutual aid and are familiar with each others’ streets; the dispatch communication between both towns’ volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps is symbiotic.”
He added, “This seemed like a seamless commingling of resources with no downside for the residents of both towns and it might have induced another adjacent municipality to join, further reducing costs, with the same seamless service, benefitting three towns. We are always open to exploring opportunities to share services with our neighbors when … it makes economic and operational sense.”
Ruocco told Pascack Press that Hillsdale analyzed the proposal and concluded the county fit was “more operationally and financially advantageous for Hillsdale.”
— With some reporting by John Snyder