My Turn: Celebrating real civic work and spirit

Dispatcher Patrick Dickhaut works in the new dispatch center at the Greenfield Police Station. STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By STEPHEN HUSSEY

Published: 02-12-2025 9:06 PM

I have waited in vain for over a week to see what response there would be, in the letters and from our town offices, to the truly extraordinary front-page article from Jan. 22, that told of the upgrades completed on the Police Department’s dispatch center, the heart of our community’s emergency response system [“Police dispatch upgrades complete,” Recorder].

The old center suffered problems during major events since speakers from all emergency services and speakers from the response team were often running simultaneously in the close space. The city put the renovation of the center out to bid in the summer of 2023 but there were no takers. The city then put out RFPs offering $240,000 and got two responses, both asking for around $490,000.

At this point, it would have been the usual response for everyone to sit around on their hands, shrugging, and mumbling, “Well, where we gonna get the funds from?” Instead what happened was this: Our Police Department gathered folks from the town’s Central Maintenance Department, a local electrician, and volunteers from the department itself, and among them all, took on and completed the full project, from demolition through renovation, for an estimated cost of $140,000, a savings to the town of $350,000 over the two sole contractor offers.

This example of common sense, of goodwill, of resourcefulness, and of plain civic responsibility were quite normal once in American society. Andy Griffith and Barney Fife would have done the same sort of thing, hanging a new screen door on Andy’s office (though Barney would have put his hand through the screen before the end of the show).

In more recent decades, this sort of dilemma would have resulted in drawn-out haggling and negotiations over budgetary options, resulting in long delays despite the clear urgency of the issue in question.

There have been a series of letters recently, bullying in tone, telling us who we should be honoring and championing. For myself, I celebrate people who take up the tasks that present themselves in life and do their best to meet them, who do so without shirking, without complaint, and accept that their efforts may well go unheeded. These are the people who move things forward in our world.

So hoping others already have done so and more will, I extend my gratitude and my respect to Chief Todd Dodge and to all the Central Maintenance and Police department employees who contributed to this project. A task needed to be taken on, you did so, and set an example of responsibility and generosity that we’d all do well to make normal again in America.

Stephen Hussey

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