Borough police would continue to have at least two officers on patrol, even when the police station is unstaffed, officials said.
By SUE MORGAN
There would be workshifts during which there are no live bodies inside the Fair Haven Police Headquarters if the borough decides to hook up with neighboring Little Silver for emergency dispatch services.
But to keep a much-heralded small-town feeling, a trained dispatcher who is familiar with Fair HavenÂ’s thoroughfares would be stationed at Little Silver's police headquarters round-the-clock to direct responses to emergency calls, officials from both towns promised constituents at Monday night's Fair Haven Council meeting.
Under Little Silver's proposed three-year contract, it would provide dispatch services to its neighbor to the north for $42,000 annually. All 911 calls originating from Fair Haven would continue to go to the centralized Monmouth County Communications Center in Freehold — just as they now do, said Mayor Mike Halfacre.
The only difference is that those calls would then be routed to Little Silver's emergency service operators, rather than Fair Haven PD.
Local dispatchers would then call one of the two Fair Haven patrol vehicles — yes, borough officials stress, there will be two police officers patrolling the roads even if dispatch comes out of the neighboring town — to send them off to the emergency.
Appealing to the financial sensibilities of Fair Haven residents who have previously voiced opposition to moving dispatch outside the town's borders, officials from both towns predicted savings to the taxpayers over time.
Also, by teaming up, both towns might have more clout with state officials when submitting applications for shared services grants, Halfacre said.
"The clock is ticking on applications for sharing grants," Halfacre said in urging the council to consider Little SilverÂ’s proposal. "We have to get moving."
Whether the council chooses to sign onto the Little Silver offer or instead signs a one-year contract with Monmouth County's emergency communications system — at an annual cost of $57,582 plus a $4.82 charge per call — keeping dispatch in-house is no longer affordable for most residents, the Halfacre said.
And transfering the operation means police headquarters would be dark for whole workshifts at a time.
"Neither the county or Little Silver is going to take away the biggest concern, which is not having a body in the police station 24/7," Halfacre said.
While Fair Haven has not completely given up on joining the more expensive county dispatch, the governing body voted unanimously to authorize Borough Administrator Mary Howell and Borough Attorney Sal Alfieri to meet with their Little Silver counterparts to begin hammering out a written agreement to merge dispatch services.
Still, Halfacre asked Howell and Alfieri to draft a written agreement to join the county dispatch in case the council sways that way.
Under the proposal pitched to the council and about 35 Fair Haven residents by Little Silver Police Chief Shannon Giblin and Sgt. Dan Shaffery, Fair Haven would not actually start paying the $42,000 annual cost until Jan. 1, 2010. Instead, for the remainder of 2009, te borough would share capital costs of $48,286 for the initial purchase of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) equipment and $43,286 for a wireless point-to-point communication system using local radio towers, said Giblin.
Both communities would be able to share computerized records and data with the new equipment, which is needed to upgrade the existing dispatch, Giblin and Shaffery said. Little Silver officials would explore shared services grants from the state to help defray the final costs.
Unlike the county's annual fee, which Fair Haven officials worried might increase over time, the $42,000 annual fee would remain unchanged throughout 2011 and 2012, the two remaining years of the contract, Giblin said.
Should Fair Haven decide to bow out of the agreement at any point, it could keep any equipment it had bought without penalty, Shaffery said.
Councilman John Lehnert, a borough firefighter who has opposed piggybacking onto the county dispatch since that proposal came up in November, appeared reassured by that safety net clause.
"I'm not in favor of going anywhere. But if you put a gun to my head, I'd pick Little Silver," Lehnert said. "I would say that the lesser of two evils is Little Silver."
New council member Ben Luccarelli had concerns about how much the town would actually end up paying to the county, which has boasted of its state-of-the-art equipment, after 2009.
"I'm not sure we can afford all the new technology with the county," Luccarelli said.
Not everyone was on board with the Little Silver plan. Speaking during the public portion, Fire Chief Shaun Foley complained that he had only learned the newer proposal existed at 2p on Monday and hand't had time to digest it.
"That was the first time we heard about it," Foley said. "It's absolutely ridiculous."
Jeff Jarvis, vice-president of the Fair Haven Policemen's Benevolent Association, which has been fighting to save the jobs of borough dispatchers who would be laid off by a merger, protested that Little Silver had no experience in dispatching for another town.
"What efforts have been made to draw other agencies to us so we can be the lead agency?" Jarvis asked.
Giblin promised to meet with Foley, Jarvis and their groups while the council handles the paperwork end of the deal.
"We're not here to gobble anybody up. We're not here to make enemies," Giblin said. "I started here as a dispatcher in 1983."
Last year, Fair Haven spent more than $174,000 on salaries and benefits for its dispatchers, Halfacre has said.
A final decision on the matter is expected at the council's March 9 meeting.
Here's Halfacre's take on the issue, as posted on his blog.
