Avon, Canton and Simsbury Consider Regional Police Dispatch

Sometimes third time's the charm, but for Avon it may be the fourth regarding the possibility of regional dispatching.

"It's the right thing to be thinking about," Town Council Chairman Mark Zacchio, a Republican, said.

The Avon Town Council voted Thursday to authorize Town Manager Brandon Robertson to hire Intertech Associates to do a Regional Dispatch Feasibilty Study about merging Avon, Canton and Simsbury police dispatch operations.

"I would say, this is kind of an exciting process and it’s going to be interesting to see what they come up with," Robertson said at the meeting.

The study will cost $56,000, according to a memo that Steve Bartha, assistant to the town manager, sent to Robertson, and the town received a $75,000 grant from the Department of Justice in June 2010. Robertson said that the town might need to use the leftover funds to explore other aspects of the concept.

"This idea is not new," Bartha wrote in the memo. "In 1999 a  state grant funded study was commissioned by CRGOG to study PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) consolidation in the Capitol Region, which ultimately recommended two PSAP centers — one on each side of the Connecticut River."

A compromise was not reached, but Farmington headed another study that included Avon, Burlington, Canton and Simsbury investigating the possibility of having a central dispatch center in Farmington. The towns again decided not to move forward, but Burlington and Farmington did separately decide to share dispatch services for fire and EMS calls.

Avon and Canton, which the study summary noted "have a good track record in funding cooperative programs to save taxpayer dollars," decided to revisit the idea for fire, police and EMS dispatch, including Simsbury in the research. Simsbury First Selectman Mary A. Glassman, Canton First Selectman Richard Barlow and former Avon town manager Philip K. Schenck Jr. were project sponsors for the Farmington Valley Public Safety Dispatch Center study. Robertson was on the steering committee when he worked in Simsbury.

"Numerous studies have shown that the consolidation of single town dispatch centers into regional centers delivers the best value and service for municipalities, encourages and creates interoperability amongst towns, facilitates a means to upgrading technology, and provides new opportunities and advantages for staff," the May 2009 study reads.

Granby also showed interest in being part of the study, but the four console setup proved to be too few resources for the Granby dispatch center's "call volume numbers," which include East Granby and East Hartland calls.

Now, Avon is trying again. In March, the town sought out bids from firms "to evaluate the benefits and/or need for a consolidated communications center that meets public safety needs and determine if the initiative is a practical, efficient and economical endeavor," the memo said.

The two other finalists were Concepts to Operations of Annapolis, MD and AECOM Technical Services of Lynchburg, VA and proposals ranged from $39,805 to $75,000.

The town selected Intertech Associates, of Freehold, NJ, from a pool of 16 candidates.

Zacchio asked whether regionalizing dispatch operations would mean one central location or rotating between stations. Robertson said that consolidating dispatch would most likely mean one central dispatch center between the three towns.

“At some point somebody is going to have to swallow the pill to have a dark police station," Robertson said.

Avon just finished renovating its dispatch center so it is possible that centralized dispatch could be located to Avon, but its equipment can be easily disassembled for relocation, Robert Whitty, former police captain and project manager, previously said.