Saline considers outsourcing police dispatch services to Pittsfield Township
From left Lee Bourgoin, city finance director and Paul Bunten, Saline police chief at Monday night's Saline City Council meeting,
Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com
Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten told the City Council Monday night that he has had informational meetings with Pittsfield Public Safety and other communities and Pittsfield is “very interested” in providing Saline with dispatch services, which would save the city “about $100,000 after the first year.”
He said it costs about $250,000 to maintain the city’s dispatch service. There are three full-time dispatchers and four part-time dispatchers.
Councilman Brian Marl said the idea is “just in the planning stage; it’s conceptual at this point and it would have to go back to both governing bodies,” for approval.
“I have very strong reservations about this,” said Councilman Glenn Law. “The Police Department should remain in the community … sometimes you just have to say the heck with it,” he said, referring to the cost of this service. “Keep the dispatch system the way it is, it’s part of the community fabric,” he said.
There are a lot of details that would need to be worked out both procedurally and policy-wise, officials said.
“In a perfect world, I don’t like doing this,” Bunten said, but any change would have to be “seamless” and provide the same level of customer service, he said.
In addition, he said “Lansing wants us to collaborate,” as a way to get additional state funding.
The dispatch service is located in Saline City Hall along with the police department. Saline dispatchers handle about 800 emergency 911 calls and 15,000 regular calls annually, Bunten said.
Mayor Gretchen Driskell said the City Council would have a work session to discuss the potential change further, but no date for a discussion was chosen.
Bunten said it would take about a year to get all the policies and procedures in place, but the two departments are already working together on training as a cost-savings measure and the move could provide a “tremendous savings in the future.” Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.
Comments
salinemom2712
Wed, Jun 22, 2011 : 9:51 p.m.
According to councilman Brian Marl this is "just in the planning stage," but according to the article on the Patch.com the police chief has already given the dispatchers notice that their jobs will be eliminated in 12 months and they should start making other arrangements. Has it been decided, or not??? Maybe the police chief and the deputy chief should both retire, and promote one of the two sargents or the detective to police chief. That would save $210,000 per year.
Fat Bill
Wed, Jun 22, 2011 : 5:14 p.m.
In the early nineties, I had the opportunity to help open a consolidated 9-1-1 center in Washington State. The State made it especially attractive to do so by establising rules for 9-1-1 funds distribution that encouraged consolidation to at least the county level. We managed to consolidate 8 relatively small dispatch operations (10 police departments, 23 fire agencies) into one center. Of course, there was some trepidation. Turf battles were reduced by having the 9-1-1 agency operated as a third service via interlocal agreement. The savings were substantial; at 3 am in our 66,000 population county (500,000 on busy summer weekends!) we could function with two or three dispatchers instead of the 8 that would have been on-duty before. In addition, the dispatchers were full-time dispatchers, not cops, clerks, firefighters, records people, or corrections officers that also had to dispatch. They were able to focus on entirely on the job of emergency telecommunications. Many of the small departments were able to function with only 1 support staff where they may have had as many as five before, thus freeing up more money for patrol. If done right, we could have the same thing here, but you can't try to force it down the throat of the employees. Nobody wants to lose all they have worked for and start at the bottom; select senior people from affected agencies would need the opportunity to laterally transfer in to such an arrangement.
Ginger chase
Wed, Jun 22, 2011 : 4:36 p.m.
Seriously Bob, it has nothing to do with how many microseconds extra it will take for Pittsfield dispatchers to answer the phones. It comes down to the quality service provided by the dedicated, highly skilled dispatchers that are going to get laid off. Not everyone knows where they are when they call in an emergency on a cell phone. It is up to your dispatcher to figure that out for you. You take away those that are familiar with the area, and there is your delayed response time. If everyone decides to lay off all of their dispatchers, they will not be able to find a job to support their family to further add to the troubling economy. Yes, I understand that a lot of people are getting laid off, which is devastating. With that in mind, please don't be so quick to put more families on the street without all the facts. It sounds like Ann Arbor is going to lay off all of their 21 dispatchers and they have yet to provide an actual savings to the city. Besides, who knows where that saved money will go? A new secretary like Ann Arbor just hired?
Basic Bob
Thu, Jun 23, 2011 : 1:36 a.m.
So you're saying Saline never hires new dispatchers? Considering the proximity of Pittsfield and Saline, It would take a Pittsfield dispatcher about 3 minutes to memorize the entire city of Saline. In fact our whole township administration knows Saline better than the northeast section of their own township (you know - the Ypsi part). Plus, dispatchers just make a call to the Saline police and they know exactly where they are going.
Basic Bob
Wed, Jun 22, 2011 : 2:04 a.m.
How much longer does it take a phone call to reach the Pittsfield police station instead of the Saline police station? Potentially microseconds. Then the dispatcher would need to contact the Saline police cars. Possibly more microseconds. What a joke, you would think by some of the comments that this is done by cup and string.
robert j
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 9:12 p.m.
the union agrees to concessions then you tell them you plan to eliminate dispatch. why not just give all the big guns more money. then give the city administrator a raise for not understanding whats going on. eventually you will have everyone in the office making 125 thousand a year and no one to answer the phones and no officers on the road to protect and serve. incredible......
Mark
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 9:01 p.m.
I have to disagree with you on this one stunhsif. If I remember right well hold on I will find the link Yep, here it is: <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/news/saline/saline-city-council-agrees-to-sergeants-association-concessions/">http://www.annarbor.com/news/saline/saline-city-council-agrees-to-sergeants-association-concessions/</a> When I first read this I wondered what was going on. Looks like the police officers union agreed to give more concessions than even the Sargents union. For some reason one contract was approved and one contract was denied. Looks a little strange? Maybe they should do away with all the unions and just have police work the streets that want to work for a living. I don't know why there's different contracts in the first place.
stunhsif
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 6:27 p.m.
Excellent idea and get rid of the police union, they are holding the city hostage to their ridiculous demands.
Mark
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 4:10 p.m.
This is insane! To eliminate the 24 hour safe place in our great city would be ashame. Go to Ann Arbor for Saline business? The Saline Police has always been there for us and that's why we pay so much in taxes. I've considered moving for years because of the high taxes. One of the reasons we have stayed is because we like this city for all of the services we receive, snowplowing in the winter is exceptional. The police and firefighters are always friendly and easy to talk to. If the 24 hour dispatch center is eliminated I hope that our taxes go down. Is there really a chief and an assistant chief? Do we really have that much crime in Saline? I don't see it?
robert j
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 3:57 p.m.
i also agree that consolidating will save money. im a little concerned with what i read on the patch.com comments though. saline has 8 officers and the chief makes 125k a year. is that true? it also said that there is an asst. chief? how about getting rid of the chief and his 125k salary and have the asst. chief run the police department. that will save more than the 100k that will be saved by eliminating dispatch. instead of eliminating an entire dispatch you could eliminate one position and public service wont be affected?
Jim
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 3:53 p.m.
What happens when you do not get the service you expect, or the entity has financial problems and is not able to continue? How much do you think it would cost to start your own dispatch again. This is just a bad idea. Any time you rely on other departments to service your citizens it is a bad idea. Saline has great dispatchers that provide great service to it's citizens and it should remain that way!
debling
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 3:47 p.m.
Having lived in countries where police services are provided on a regional basis it's hard to understand why we think every little city should have it's own police force (Saline has something like 8 officers). This is a good effort by Saline to find ways to reduce costs and I applaud it. Why don't we do this on a county wide basis and save even more $$$
jcwest32
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 2:28 p.m.
What would the cost be for the Sheriff's Office to do the same thing? It looks like the majority of the county is heading that way. Would it make sense to do it now...or move in with Pittsfield and then change a couple years down the road for a second time with the way the state is going to regionalized dispatching. Look at Livingston and Barry County. Look up north where there are four counties in one dispatch center. Money can be saved, but only if it is done right. You have Ypsilanti and now Ann Arbor dropping dispatch services to save dollars. Now if those dollars saved really do put more cops on the street, than more power to the Cities for taking that step. But if they take the money and put it towards art, shelters, and other crap. It's a joke by our political leaders.
TMazur
Tue, Jun 21, 2011 : 11:07 a.m.
I would encourage Saline residents that share Councilman Law's strong reservations to contact their elected officials and let their feelings be known. On the City of Saline homepage, there is a drop down that will allow you to send a group email to city council and the mayor. This is the time to voice your concerns regarding the proposed merging of services with Pittsfield Twp. Councilman Law is correct, the dispatch system is a part of the community fabric and sometimes you do just have to say the heck with it. Why should Lansing be allowed to tell us what works best for our city?