The Towns of Acton and Concord, as well as both towns’ police and fire departments, wish to provide the community with an update on their joint effort to study the feasibility of regionalizing both towns’ emergency dispatch operations.
On Monday, Feb. 22, the Town Managers and Police and Fire Chiefs from both communities will jointly present to both towns’ Select Boards about the findings of a study carried out by the third party Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at UMass Boston.
Ahead of the presentations, town and public safety leaders have had discussions with Teamsters Local Union No. 25 who represent the Public Safety Dispatchers in each community, in order to ensure their inclusion and input in the process going forward. While concerns related to impacts to employees, operations, and public safety services have been raised, the Union shares the common goal of preserving the excellence of public safety communications services in Acton and Concord.
The study ultimately found that the development of a shared Regional Emergency Communications Center (RECC) would be feasible, based on a number of similarities between the two communities’ public safety operations — including call volume — and the anticipated improvement of services across both communities.
A potential RECC would be eligible for increased funding from the State 911 Department.
The Town Managers and public safety leaders will present the study’s findings to the Concord Select Board, at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22, followed by the Acton Select Board at 7:30 p.m. on the same evening. Residents are encouraged to attend one of the meetings in order to learn more.
If both boards wish to proceed, the two communities will seek additional grant funding next month for the next phase of the planning process.
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