ATHOL — Athol is open to a new option presented by the state after the town voted in February to withdraw from an intermunicipal agreement to regionalize the town’s dispatch services. But certain concerns would need to be addressed.
Frank Pozniak, executive director of the state 911 department, which is tasked with coordinating and implementing enhanced 911 service in Massachusetts, sent Athol Town Manager Shaun A. Suhoski a letter earlier this month detailing how Gardner and Athol could execute a new agreement. This was offered as an alternative to Athol selectmen reversing their February vote or nixing the 2-year-old agreement and requiring the town to repay $739,564.54 in state money for the project.
The selectmen wrote Pozniak a letter to explain this third option is intriguing, though it seems the 911 Department has “focused primarily upon financial and reporting concerns while leaving legitimate questions surrounding public safety and prompt emergency dispatch unanswered.”
The letter states a re-routing of 911 calls to Gardner — only to have Gardner dispatchers then transfer the call to Athol’s dispatchers — does not appear to improve public safety. “Any resolve to the contractual issues must not compromise public safety,” the letter states, reiterating its request for the 911 Department’s help in implementing centralized dispatch at the Athol Police station.
“The Athol Selectboard has been clear that any scenario that delays receipt and dispatch of 911 calls is not acceptable,” Suhoski said Thursday. “The board and town have pledged to cooperate with the State 911 Department for the duration of the ‘opt-out’ period with Gardner, which all parties agree expires in August 2018.”
The letter from the Selectboard also insists that any interim agreement with Gardner must be “mutually negotiated and financially feasible.” It also insists on Athol remaining a public-safety answering point (PSAP) — a place responsible for answering emergency calls and dispatching services accordingly — if it is unsuccessful in its best efforts to regionalize with other communities by July 1, 2021.
According to Pozniak, the new agreement would make Athol a limited secondary public-safety answering point, which is responsible for answering emergency calls and dispatching services accordingly, designate Gardner as a regional PSAP that receives all 911 calls and transfers them to the Athol Police Department. Pozniak’s June 5 letter to Athol stated this agreement would have to go into effect no later than Sept. 1. In his most recent letter, Pozniak requested an option selection by July 19.