Politics & Government

Bernards Considers Options After Bernardsville Declines Police Dispatch Offer

Township will look for another partner and examine other possibilities.

Bernards Township will consider other options for the future of the township's police dispatch service after the Bernardsville Council on Monday unanimously voted to decline an offer to share Bernards' system for an annual charge of $225,000.

However, as of Tuesday morning, the issue was not on the agenda for Tuesday night's Township Committee meeting, Bernards Administrator Bruce McArthur said.

McArthur said that among the options that the township might consider are to continue looking for another partner to share police dispatch services after a current shared dispatch agreement with neighboring Long Hill Township expires in April 2012.

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However, he previously said that neighboring communities such as Bedminster and Far Hills rely on the Somerset County dispatch system for local police and other emergency communications.

McArthur said creating a timetable to sign up for the county dispatch service is another alternative, although he previously noted that would require some investment in communications equipment that is not wholly compatible with the county's system.

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Bernardsville Borough, which has its own police dispatch system, has compatible equipment, according to McArthur. In addition, the two closely-related municipalities provide back-up for police and other emergency services, he noted. Bernardsville was a "logical" dispatch partner, he said.

But Bernardsville Borough Councilman Joe Rossi, contacted on Tuesday morning, said the potential cost savings for the borough, which he said might be as little as about $25,000 when all was considered, was not significant enough to disrupt a tightly coordinated dispatch service that works as an integral part of the borough's police and emergency services response.

Shortly before noon, Bernardsville Mayor Lee Honecker put the savings more at $75,000 to $80,000, but added that Bernardsville may be looking in the future for savings of $300,000 if the county is able to resolve technology problems that now make it difficult for communiciations in parts of Bernardsville's hilly terrain. Honecker said the council on Monday never got beyond a discussion of financial aspects of the deal.

In Bernards, McArthur on Tuesday said another option is for is the township to "go it alone" in providing police dispatch services to its own 38-officer force. Only in June, McArthur said the county began handling 9-1-1 calls for Bernards, thereby reducing the dispatch responsibilities for the dispatchers who are based in the police headquarters at 1 Collyer Lane.

The township already has reduced its number of police dispatchers from 12 to nine this year, according to McArthur.

"Our final offer to Bernardsville was $225,000. They said they spend $300,000," McArthur said on Tuesday. Following a few months of informal discussions and official offers, Bernards had asked Bernardsville officials to make a decision by the end of July.
"They made their decision — now we’ll move on," McArthur said in an email on Tuesday morning.

The township is reconsidering how to handle its police dispatch services after Long Hill Township announced earlier it would discontinue its arrangement with Bernards and arrange its police dispatch through Morris County.

Bernards initially looked to Bernardsville because, among other reasons, McArthur said the two dispatch centers mostly utilize a dispatching frequency different from Somerset County's.

On Tuesday, Rossi said Bernardsville uses equipment that he said is best for handlign calls in part of Bernardsville's mountainous area. The county has not yet been successful in eliminating the "dead zones" in Bernardsville where its dispatch communications cannot reach, Rossi said.

Although Bernardsville estimates that having it's own police dispatch center costs about $300,000 each year, Rossi said that figure does not tell the whole story. 

"It's not just dollars," Rossi said. "It (the borough's own police dispatch service) is a very important part of the borough's total public safety system," he said.

In a small town with a police department of 18 that covers everything from the downtown to the twisty mountain roads within the borough's 13 square miles, the dispatches work closely to coordinate calls among the police and the borough's volunteer fire company and rescue squad, Rossi said.

The dispatchers closely assist police by greeting the public at headquarters, making sure that 9-1-1 calls put out through the county are immediately passed on to police, he said. Dispatchers even assist with such responsibilities as the processing of prisoners in the tight quarters that house police, he said.

The borough would need to hire or assign others to pick up those additional responsibilities if dispatchers based in Bernards were picking up police calls, Rossi said.

Honecker later said those issues may be addressed in the future if the county is able to fully cover Bernardsville with its communications system. He said that his understanding is that dispatchers assist the chief with administrative duties and monitor cameras at the police facility.

The borough's dispatch service makes sure that Bernardsville police respond to all calls within two minutes no matter what the emergency, Rossi said. 

"It's all these things that go on that would be eliminated," Rossi said. He said the borough wants to maintain its own coordinated response system within its borders, insteading of relying on dispatchers that also serve the larger Bernards Township, with its greater population and inclusion of two interstate highways.

Rossi said Monday's council vote was 5-0 to reject Bernards' offer. He said that Councilman Kevin Sooy was absent. Under Bernardsville's form of government, the mayor only votes in the case of a tie.

Honecker said he contacted Township Committeeman John Carpenter on Monday night, and thanked him for the township's offer.


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