Fire/Rescue News - More Atlantic County towns may be on board with centralized dispatch
By THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer | Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 | 1 comment
Tight budgets and rising costs are apparently convincing once-skeptical Atlantic County municipalities to buy into a countywide central dispatch system for police and fire operations.
In fact, the proposal - more than a decade old - may become more extensive than originally envisioned.
The end result could be an operations center on the grounds of Atlantic City International Airport that also would handle dispatch duties for some Cape May County municipalities. The center also may serve as a regional transportation control network involving State Police and other law-enforcement and emergency management operations....Continue Reading
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How it would all work is still under review.
For instance, Atlantic County officials said they must figure out how municipalities would pay for the service, along with the fate of municipally employed dispatchers. Officials with the South Jersey Transportation Authority, or SJTA, are seeking funding sources to finance construction of the center at the airport in Egg Harbor Township.
But clearly, the project has moved forward considerably from a time when it was eschewed by municipalities for fear of losing local control over operations.
"As of right now, almost every municipality is saying if we could do it, we should move it as quickly as possible," Atlantic County Administrator Gerald DelRosso said.
Atlantic City is the only Atlantic County municipality that does not want to participate.
Kevin Rehmann, SJTA security and operations manager, said it makes sense to house as many operations as possible for Atlantic and Cape May counties under one roof, given that both share some common problems and already work together on issues such as evacuations during a bad storm.
"It would be much easier to coordinate all your resources," Rehmann said.
Atlantic City International makes the perfect site for the center because it is already designated as a major emergency center for the region in the event of a bad storm, he said.
Atlantic County officials have supported a central dispatch system for at least a decade. The plans fizzled as many municipalities did not want to give up local control of their dispatch operations.
That left some significant problems, including the inability of many law-enforcement organizations and fire departments to communicate during an emergency. The best the county could do was institute a new radio communications system a few years ago that significantly upgraded communications involving police, fire and emergency operations.
DelRosso said the idea of a central dispatch became more attractive over the years as municipalities looked for ways to cut costs without significantly cutting services. Improved technology also is creating more confidence in such a system, he said.
Attempts by the county to develop costs and cost-savings related to municipal dispatch systems have not really worked because of differences in the ways municipalities determine how much they spend on the service, he said, which is prompting the county to proceed with figuring out how much a central dispatch operation will cost, he said.
"We'll worry about what the municipalities will save later on," DelRosso said.
That could involve some Cape May County municipalities.
Ocean City Administrator James Rutala said the resort is always looking for ways to save money through shared services, and participating in the central dispatch operation planned by Atlantic County is an option.
However, Rutala said Ocean City officials would have to look at the final costs before committing to the endeavor.
Contact Thomas Barlas:
609-272-7201
Posted in Breaking, Atlantic, Cape_may on Friday, November 20, 2009 4:30 pm
