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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Central dispatch, new cost estimates, on table
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.

    The ongoing talks about centralizing Schenectady County dispatch services have started up again.
    County officials are making revisions to a proposal, to incorporate updated numbers about dispatching costs from the towns from 2011.
    Glenville has long been a holdout in the proposal because town offi cials worried they would bear a disproportionate share of the cost.
    Under a “maintenance of effort” formula, the county would take what the municipalities spent on dispatching services in a certain year and project that into the future.
    County Attorney Chris Gardner said the county is crunching the numbers with and without Glenville’s participation.
    “If Glenville’s in, Niskayuna, Glenville and Rotterdam will save about 13 percent off their cost,” he said. If Glenville doesn’t participate, he believes it would still save money but county officials have not fi nished analyzing the numbers.
    The county has received a one-year extension until March 31, 2013 to use a $1 million grant it received from the New York Department of State to implement the project. If it has made suffi cient progress at that time, the county can apply for another extension until March 31, 2014, according to Department of State spokesman Chris Valens.
    Part of the money would go toward finding a new site for the central dispatch center. That process hasn’t started, Gardner said. The oversight committee for the dispatch center will have that responsibility once it is established.
    Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle said county officials have not reached out to him yet, but he said he is pleased that the budget numbers are being updated.
    “It’s something we’ve been asking for from the beginning,” he said. “We’re looking forward to hearing how that may change the cost structure for the town. We approach it with an open mind.”
    Koetzle said using the old budget numbers was not appropriate because situations have changed in the last few years. For example, Niskayuna’s dispatchers have unionized, leading to higher costs there. Also, there have staffing changes in some dispatch centers.
    Koetzle’s concern is that the town could be locked into the amount of money it spent on dispatch services in 2011 in future years. “You may have been paying for a higher level of service in your town,” he said. Koetzle said he would still prefer that the county take over dispatching services outright and tax it. He believes that the county needs participation from all the communities. “I don’t think it makes sense without Glenville. I don’t think they can adequately get the benefit they’re looking for,” he said. Koetzle is optimistic about coming to a resolution. “I don’t know if we’re going to get everything we want but we’ve got to get where it’s something that makes sense for the residents of the town,” he said. Rotterdam Deputy Supervisor Wayne Calder said he has yet to receive any updated fi gures. The town showed interest in participating last year and likely will again.
    Like Koetzle, board member Robert Godlewski believes the county should take over dispatching outright.
    “If it’s such a good deal for everybody, let the county run it, apportion the tax over everybody equally,” he said.
    Calder also has an issue with the weighted system proposed by the county. The weight would be based on relative expenses for dispatching costs from each community and money generated from the fee on 911 cellphone calls. He believes Schenectady and Niskayuna will outweigh everyone else’s.

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    Like Koetzle, board member Robert Godlewski believes the county should take over dispatching outright.
    “If it’s such a good deal for everybody, let the county run it, apportion the tax over everybody equally,” he said.

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Central Dispatch is a great idea that is long overdue.   I hope that 2012 is the year that we get it done.

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Consolidated Dispatch has been a political soccer ball for more than a decade now. Hot topics require study after study after study. That way the political hack friends get every penny allocated in the budgets.
Get off your can Gardner, and do the right thing. Develop it, plan it, implement it and then tax the public. You already do. Give the municipalities a break.
And while you're at it, open up the records on your own patronage jobs. We can think of ONE that sucks the life blood out of City Taxpayers. Let him go back to selling toilets.

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SCHENECTADY
City officials like central dispatch proposal
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The Schenectady City Council enthusiastically moved forward with the latest plan for a countywide dispatch system, even though it might not save the city money at fi rst.
    “You save money over the long run,” Mayor Gary McCarthy said.
    The council passed the proposal without objections in committee, but those who have been on the council for many years quickly warned their newer colleagues that this idea has been on the table for more than a decade.
    “Don’t get too excited,” Council President Denise Brucker said. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
    City and county officials want all the law enforcement agencies in the county to share one centralized dispatch offi ce, which would require fewer people and could allow everyone to upgrade to the best communications equipment.
    For some suburban leaders, the idea has appeal because the turnover rate for dispatchers is high, making it diffi cult to keep their units fully staffed. For the city, which already answers the entire county’s cellphone calls to 911, the change is a matter of fairness as well as savings.
    Some of those outside law enforcement also support it on the grounds that countywide dispatch could be a step toward countywide policing. That idea isn’t popular among many police offi cers, though, and has received substantial criticism from some suburban residents who do not want Schenectady police in their towns, and do not want to help pay to police Schenectady.
    The possibility of a later countywide policing system led some to oppose centralized dispatching. But the main fi ght has been in Glenville, where town leaders hesitate to give up autonomy.
    The latest proposal has been written two ways, McCarthy said: “With Glenville participating, and Glenville not participating.”
    No one is sure what Glenville will do, but city leaders hope one of the two plans will finally come to fruition.
    “[It’s been] a long time coming,” Brucker said.
    In Glenville, Supervisor Christopher Koetzle is studying the latest plan with ambivalence.
    “Are we paying our fair share or not?” he asked. “Look at Niskayuna, see what they’re paying.”
    In the plan, based on call volume from last year, Glenville would pay 20 percent of the total cost. Niskayuna would pay only 14 percent, while Rotterdam would pay 19 percent and Schenectady would pay 47 percent.
    In real dollars, that works out to $803,000 a year from Glenville versus $576,000 annually from Niskayuna.
    “That is a signifi cant difference and I can’t figure out why,” Koetzle said, before acknowledging that call volume and last year’s expenditures are the basis of the fi gures.
    He noted that Glenville is projected to save more money than Niskayuna — $162,000 versus $116,000 — but he isn’t convinced the costs are right.
    “That’s just an estimate. You have to take it on faith,” he said.
    The county increased the projected savings by offering to take on the cost of constructing or renting a dispatch center. To avoid laying off dispatchers, the county also agreed to hire all existing dispatchers, even if there are more than needed, and pay for the additional staff until attrition brings the total workforce down to 43 supervisors and dispatchers.
    Koetzle said he is also pleased that more oversight has been added to the plan, as he wanted, and that Glenville received a 10 percent credit for losing its dispatchers, who perform some minor tasks in addition to dispatching. Niskayuna and Rotterdam would receive that credit as well.
    The plan also calls for buying Glenville’s new equipment to use at the centralized offi ce.
    “So we’re making progress,” he said. “We’re one county and we have to act as one county, but we also have to look out for what’s best for Glenville’s residents.”
    If Glenville does not join, the rest of the county could create a centralized dispatch system by taking on a higher percentage of the costs. But Schenectady’s share would be increased to 58 percent of the total, while Niskayuna would pay 18 percent and Rotterdam would pay 24 percent.
    Duanesburg and Princetown would pay the same flat rate under either plan.

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The county increased the projected savings by offering to take on the cost of constructing or renting a dispatch center. To avoid laying off dispatchers, the county also agreed to hire all existing dispatchers, even if there are more than needed, and pay for the additional staff until attrition brings the total workforce down to 43 supervisors and dispatchers.

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Dispatch center closer to reality
Municipal leaders must move quickly on new centralized 911 system or lose $1M state grant
By Lauren Stanforth
Published 11:05 p.m., Tuesday, July 10, 2012

SCHENECTADY — Faced with the possibility of losing $1 million in state funding, the county is about to create a centralized 911 dispatch system after more than a decade of discussion.

County officials expect municipal leaders to sign a memorandum of understanding on combining their emergency dispatchers by Aug. 1 to avoid losing a $1 million state grant that must be spent on the project by the end of next year..............................>>>>..................>>>>.................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Dispatch-center-closer-to-reality-3697681.php#ixzz20JNjBWri

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Towns approve central dispatch
Local officials express reservations with support for consolidation plan
By John Purcell As of Thursday, July 26, 2012 -2:29 p.m.

#SCHENECTADY COUNTY — Local officials have heeded the county’s call to approve a central dispatch proposal after more than 20 years of deliberations.

#The town boards in Rotterdam, Glenville and Niskayuna recently approved the proposed central dispatch plan, in respective order, after momentum was created by the Schenectady County Legislature. The agreement will establish a Unified Communications Center, which would house all dispatchers in one building at an undetermined location. Several local officials touted the plan as a way to enhance safety while creating savings.

#Schenectady County Legislator Antony Jasenski, who has presented the agreement to municipal officials, said the Duanesburg Town Board approved the plan on Thursday, July 12. The Princetown Town Board will vote on the proposal at its Tuesday, Aug. 14, meeting, according to Jasenski, which is the final approval needed.

#Glenville was the only town that raised question of approving the plan, so county officials included two scenarios in the agreement — with or without the town.

#The all-Republican Glenville board unanimously approved the plan, with some reservations, on Wednesday, July 18, after county concessions made the plan more palatable......................>>>>..............>>>>...............http://www.schenectadyspotlight.com/news/2012/jul/26/towns-approve-central-dispatch/