Municipalities to study sharing emergency dispatching service

Byram - Calling all municipalities. Calling all local public safety personnel interested in discussing the possibility of creating a consolidated emergency dispatch center in Sussex County. Over. The freeholders will be conducting a study to determine the feasibility of establishing a 9-1-1 telecommunications program that shares the services of local municipalities countywide. A $60,000 grant from the New Jersey Office of Emergency Telecommunications Services will enable Sussex County officials to take part in the six-month study aimed at easing the burden that municipal services traditionally place on property taxes. “A shared services approach is the kind of way to address 9-1-1 services,” said Byram Township Manager Greg Poff. “Dispatch services are very expensive. The personnel - somebody has to be there 24-hours-a-day - and the equipment.” Last year, 19 of Sussex County’s 24 municipalities requested the freeholders to consider establishing a consolidated 9-1-1/emergency dispatch center. When the study begins early this year, project consultants will meet with representatives from all of Sussex County’s municipalities to seek input. “You need that critical mass to make it work,” said Poff. You’ve got to have a large enough group of people to service and make it cost-effective.” Byram is not a large enough community to support independent dispatching services, said Poff. The township shares emergency communications with Stanhope and Hopatcong at a cost of $135,777 a year, which Poff said is based on the average number of calls placed annually. Neighboring Sparta, which recently purchased new telecommunications equipment, shares its dispatching services with Franklin, Ogdensburg and now Lafayette. Police chief Ernie Reigstad said it would make sense to add a few more municipalities to the township’s list of clients. “We already are going in the right direction with regionalization,” he said. “The more towns we have sharing services, the more the costs are spread.” Reigstad said sharing services is a “win-win situation” for everyone involved. Smaller municipalities are afforded necessary services from an experienced staff while deflating the costs for larger communities like Sparta, he said. “It definitely helps spread the cost of operating a dispatch center,” said Reigstad. “As a taxpayer and department head, I would prefer to be in the driver’s seat. The nice thing about running it is we control the costs, the budget, and the administration.” Sparta recently agreed to provide 9-1-1 services to Lafayette for a three-year period in the sum of $30,000 for 2006, $31,050 in 2007, and $32,125, in 2008. “The issue is what is the most cost-effective way to deliver services,” said Poff. “In this instance, it’s dispatching. And that’s the genesis of participating in the feasibility study for the county.”