Town Council Considers Regional Dispatch Center

The Town Council unanimously approved a motion to authorize the town manager to apply for a Regional Planning Grant for a centralized public safety dispatch center with four other towns at their meeting Monday night.

"We are not voting on going forward," said Mayor Anthony LaRosa. "We are not committing to anything expect to apply for the grant."

The grant would provide the town with $50,000, so they can begin the planning process to determine if Rocky Hill wants to setup a regional dispatch center with the towns of Berlin, Wethersfield, Cromwell and Newington, Town Manager Barbara Gilbert said.

"Any step forward would be decided on by all of the towns. Not every town is sure that they will go behind the planning portion of it. If we don't plan, we cannot determine if we want to go forward or not."

By 2016, regional dispatch centers are expected to be setup throughout Connecticut, but the process has been slowed by the poor fiscal times, Gilbert said.

However, there is still grant money available for towns that want to setup a regional dispatch center on their own, LaRosa said.

"If we wait until the state tells us, we have to do this. We could end up with one of those bigger towns that maybe we don't want to be with."

Gilbert and LaRosa said they would prefer to be with towns that "are similar in size to" Rocky Hill and the towns mentioned are all part of the .

"I would rather pick my partners than be forced into going with the city of Hartford, the city of New Britain or the city of Middletown," Gilbert said. "I would rather control my destiny than have it forced on me." 

If all five towns joined together, it would save a total of $900,000 and about $180,000 per town.

"The savings alone is tremendous," LaRosa said.

No dispatchers are expected to lose their jobs and some may receive a raise, if the regional dispatch center is created. There will 43 dispatchers, three shift supervisors and one administrator, if all five towns agree to join. All employees would maintain their pension with their specific town, but possibly, lose seniority.

On average, two dispatchers are working at any given time in Rocky Hill. During the October snowstorm, it was impossible for the dispatchers to keep up with the call volume, Gilbert said. The center would allow for more dispatchers to be on at one time and all of them could answer phones for any town.

Cromwell could be the best location for the regional dispatch center because of its higher elevation, which would be better for broadcasting, former Rocky Hill Fire Chief Joe Kochanek told LaRosa.

The state of Texas has between two to three dispatch centers for the entire state, Gilbert stated. In Connecticut, there are over 77, she added.