Dispatchers, firefighters take aim at 911 plan

By ELIZABETH COOPER

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Feb 26, 2010 @ 05:48 PM

NEW HARTFORD —

The plan to consolidate New Hartford's 911 dispatch center with Oneida County's is meeting with stiff resistance from those in the town's public safety community.

The New Hartford Central Dispatcher's Union took out an ad in Friday's Observer-Dispatch telling town residents that the plan would have an adverse effect on safety.

The ad is sponsored by the town police department's Joseph Corr Police Benevolent Association, the New Hartford Fire Department and several other police and fire departments and ambulance services that use the dispatch center.

“Will Oneida County be able to handle the increased workload without reducing the quality of service?” the ad asks. “Absolutely not.”

It goes on to say the amount of new equipment and staff the county would have to add in order to reach the proper level of service would offset any savings that might be reaped.

Willowvale Fire Chief William Hughes said he and those in his department “emphatically don't think this is a good idea.”

“They are people from the town and in the town and they know the town like the back of their hand,” he said of the New Hartford dispatchers. “Everything we need, they have got it.”

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, who has been pushing for the consolidation, said after reading the ad he has invited New Hartford public safety officials to a meeting in his office to discuss the details of the plan.

He called statements in the letter “unfair and unjust.”

“When the question is asked, 'why aren't you consolidating,' there is the answer,” he said, referring to the positions stated in the ad.

Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski said the county deserves an apology.

“It's apparent that when jobs are on the line, self preservation kicks in,” he said of the ad. “The residents will look at this and take it for what it is.”

He said he believes that the level of service will be the same or better.

Meanwhile, Rome Public Safety Commissioner James Masucci issued a press release Friday praising the consolidation plan.

Rome has long been part of the county's dispatch center, and Masucci said the system has worked well for Rome residents.

“”In a time when we all must do more with less, the days of talking about mergers and shared services are over,” he said. “It's time to make these projects available and affordable.”