Doucette: 'Keep Total Control Of The Dispatch Center In Ledyard'

A Letter to the Editor submitted by Ledyard Fire Chief John Doucette:

To Mayor Rodolico and the Members of the Town Council,

Members of the Ledyard Fire Company District #1 Inc., attended the June 18, 2013 meeting of the Public Safety Commission where the dispatch sub-committee presented their Summary of Findings.

After careful review of the facts and information presented by the committee, as Chief of the Ledyard Fire Company District #1 Inc., I concur with the summary’s conclusion that, “Operationally speaking the best option is to keep total control of the dispatch center in Ledyard.”

Further, I agree with the summary in regards to switching to Groton which stated, “…this issue is bigger than simply the cheapest cost and we believe this option is the largest impact to operational activities which are difficult to quantify.”

I concur with the summary in regards to the benefits of staying with our own center which include, (our dispatch center) being a “known entity” which the town “possess control” of, employs “skilled dispatchers in police, fire and EMS,” has a “fully functioning backup facility” at the towns Emergency Operations Center, “monitors municipal fire alarms,” and most importantly, requires “no operational procedure changes.”

In the Summary of Findings, while no official recommendation was made, the evidence is clear that the Town of Ledyard should maintain its own dispatch center.  The areas of concern listed in the Summary of Findings regarding our own center, including National Fire Protection Association requirements for communications centers, can easily be addressed during final design and construction of the recently approved police station.

It appears that the only outstanding issue regarding keeping our own dispatch center is the “best practice” (not requirement) to have two dispatchers on duty at all times.  While weekday shifts are staffed with two dispatchers already, it seems that only weekends are the issue.  We understand that a large percentage of departmental budgets consist of personnel costs and feel that a financially responsible solution can be agreed upon should the town desire to cover all shifts with two dispatchers, whether relying on part-time employees or negotiation with current union employees to cover the vacant weekend shifts.

Further regarding the two dispatcher “best practice,” the Ledyard Fire Company District #1 Inc. has not experienced any operational issues during periods when the center is staffed with only one dispatcher.  Our dispatcher’s knowledge, experience and training (all items that cannot be quantified financially) have lead to the smooth and successful outcomes of our incidents, both small and large.  On many occasions, the Preston, Poquetanuck, Ledyard and Gales Ferry fire departments, Ledyard Ambulance and Ledyard Police have had simultaneous incidents during both types of shifts; when the center is staffed with one or two dispatchers.  If not for personal knowledge of internal workings of the Town’s dispatch center, the units in the field would not know the difference.  To date, we can think of no single incident that has ever resulted in a negative impact to field operations.  Dispatchers are trained, specifically, to multi-task, triage and handle multiple incidents.

While it would be “nice to have” two dispatchers during weekend shifts, I do not feel this self-induced requirement should adversely affect the Town’s decision to keep our own center.  Further, by setting this requirement, we are drastically escalating the operational cost figures of our own center making it appear to be more financially appealing to switch centers.

Montville currently has only one dispatcher on-duty at a time and will require hiring staff to fulfill this requirement as well.  While their quote might be lower than that provided by Ledyard, as we all know, contracts expire and must be renegotiated.  The same holds true for Groton, who already has more than one dispatcher on duty, however if the work load increases or is more than they initially expected, their contact quotes would be renegotiated upon expiration.  We can all agree that once we outsource there is no coming back and we are subject to the new prices these towns would be asking us for.

One of the reasons stated for implementing this two-dispatcher requirement, is to make Ledyard “more marketable” as we seek to obtain an additional town to get the magic number of three municipalities.  During the meeting today, it was explained that we, as a town, are in a tight spot regarding obtaining a third town.  Montville, Groton and Quinebaug Valley Communication Centers have essentially locked down the pool of Towns we have to choose from to obtain a three-town regional status.  Our question is who are we really marketing to, and is the two-dispatcher requirement necessary during these financial times if there has been no known issue to date?

As stated in the meeting the town is in very preliminary talks with Voluntown to provide dispatch service, should we decide to maintain our own center.  This would be our golden ticket to regional status.  Is Voluntown Fire Department only interested in joining if we cover the weekend with two dispatchers?  According to our sources, Voluntown Fire Department averages between 250-350 calls for service a year.  This number represents a very small percentage of the calls handled by our dispatchers under the current staffing levels.  Additionally, Voluntown Fire Department did not relate to us that they require two dispatchers at all times as long as we can continue to provide the high level of service we already provide to Ledyard and Preston.

It was also stated that should dispatch be outsourced there is a real possibility of hiring more personnel under the police budget to occupy the police station 24 hours a day.  While it was not stated if these new employees would have to be certified police officers or civilians, under our current system (and in the new police station) the dispatchers already perform this task and there would be no need to hire additional personnel to man these positions.

Speculation of future state legislative action regarding the number and location of PSAP’s (Public Safety Answering Points or 911 answering points) should not affect our Town’s decision regarding the dispatching service we provide.  No immediate legislation is pending regarding this requirement and is only a portion of what our dispatchers provide.  Should the state, at some point well into the future (2019 and beyond), create PSAP requirements, our center can still dispatch emergency services and man the police station.  There are many municipalities in Connecticut that serve only one town and have a much smaller call volume than ours.

In regards to operational decision making, Groton indicated that their center would retain control of how our services operate.  Groton will not make dispatching or operational procedures that will be tailored to our agencies and will force our units to operate within their guidelines.  This is a great concern for the department Chief’s as it directly affects our long standing Standard Operating Policies and Guidelines.  We are a very different organization than the Poquonnock Bridge or the City of Groton Fire Department and should not be forced to operate under policies designed for those types of urban agencies.  Montville agreed to work with us operationally, however it was stated during the meeting that it is “not 100% clear who the dispatching staff would work for” Montville or a newly created Regional Association.  In either case, this leads us to believe that joining this center would also lead to loss of operational control of how we handle emergencies within the Town of Ledyard.

The Ledyard Fire Company District #1 Inc. understands the elected officials obligations and responsibilities for creating and providing a fair and balanced municipal government budget.  As taxpayers and community volunteers who dedicate our time in service of this municipality, we feel that outsourcing our emergency communications center will have adverse affects on operations within the town and complicate a system that has worked extremely well for many years.  Finances alone cannot be used to make a decision regarding public safety.  We collectively request that your recommendation is to keep this valuable public safety resource within our town and seek future partnerships with towns such as Voluntown.

Respectfully Submitted,

John R. Doucette

Fire Chief

Ledyard Fire Company District #1 Inc.