ATHOL — A lifelong resident has submitted a petition to bring the issue of 911 dispatch regionalization to a special town meeting vote.
Holly Young said she asked for registered voters’ signatures because she is unhappy with how the town government has handled the issue, saying the Athol Board of Selectmen kept the public in the dark about entering into an intermunicipal agreement in March 2015 to regionalize its dispatch services. She said she has submitted the 206 signatures to Town Clerk Nancy Burnham and the topic is on the agenda for the selectmen’s meeting slated for Tuesday.
Town Manager Shaun A. Suhoski said the selectmen will determine a date — likely in early February — for the special town meeting and any other items for its warrant.
The proposal is to consolidate Athol police and fire dispatch with that of Gardner and operate in a regional emergency communication center in the new Gardner police station.
Young said she needed 200 signatures from Athol’s registered voters. On Dec. 10, she camped out at Market Basket and collected 85 signatures. Two supporters read about her plan on Facebook and met her there. Young said she now has six or seven people helping her.
She said she learned about the regionalization issue a few months ago and many people she approached were unfamiliar with the plan.
“Information was never out there for the town. It was kind of done behind the scenes,” she said.
Citizens have voiced opposition to the plan and how the town government has conducted business. At a public hearing in mid-November, resident Richard Martin accused Suhoski of pushing regionalization for his own political gain “down the road.” Also, unions representing Athol’s firefighters, police officers and dispatchers filed formal opposition with the Board of Selectmen. They contend the town did not properly gather input from the unions. The unions say their members were not sufficiently consulted before the decision.
Suhoski said it is clear to him, and the town’s current and immediate past police and fire chiefs, that Athol is on a course “that meshes with the move towards regional dispatch that is being taken on a statewide basis.
“The next generation 911 technology, radio system improvements and economies of scale simply make sense from both a public safety and cost standpoint,” he said in an e-mail. “During the interim we will continue to work on implementing the voted policy of the Board of Selectmen towards regional dispatch while also ensuring the public has reliable and accurate information upon which to base decision-making.”
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 258.
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli