ATHOL — A grassroots effort has succeeded in calling for direct voter input regarding 911 dispatch regionalization.
A special town meeting has been scheduled for Feb. 6 in Memorial Hall to give voters a chance to have their voices heard regarding a plan to consolidate Athol police and fire dispatch with that of Gardner and operate from a regional emergency communication center in the new Gardner police station.
Lifelong Athol resident Holly Young collected 206 signatures — six more than required — from Athol’s registered voters because, she said, she is displeased with how the town government has handled the dispatch regionalization issue, saying the Athol Board of Selectmen kept the public uninformed about entering into an intermunicipal agreement in March 2015 to regionalize its dispatch services.
The petition article is a three-part question. It asks if voters wish to raise and appropriate $5,000 to get a legal opinion from a neutral law firm to determine the intermunicipal agreement’s validity, to see if the town will require the selectmen and Town Manager Shaun A. Suhoski to give the required 18-month notice to terminate the agreement, and to see if the town will require any future intermunicipal agreements to be voted on at a town meeting.
The special town meeting warrant opened on Wednesday and all articles must be submitted to the Selectmen’s office by 4 p.m. on Jan. 9, when the warrant closes. The town manager, town clerk, town counsel, town accountant and moderator are scheduled to review the warrant on Jan. 17 and the selectmen can approve the final version that day. The last day to register for the special town meeting is Jan. 27.
Suhoski said the proposed appropriation of money for a legal opinion is the only one of the three questions that falls within the formal authority of a town meeting. The other two questions, he said, are advisory in nature and cannot bind any Board of Selectmen from a legal perspective. He also said the proposed article does not address “the need for funding substantial radio system upgrades if the regional proposal does not advance.” He said the current estimate is $600,000.
Suhoski’s memo states a public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 25 and he hopes citizens will attend.