North Branford Considering Changes to Town's 911 Dispatch Center

A special meeding in North Branford on Thursday night will review how to improve the town's 911 dispatch center. 

"Now there’s just one dispatcher on," Town Manager Michael Paulhus said. "And when you have you know surge in calls or emergencies and things of that nature it’s difficult for that dispatcher to handle that."

Two options on the table are either hire more dispatchers or consolidate with the neighboring town of Branford’s dispatch center, Paulhus said.

"None of the options on the table will save us any money," he added, but merging would cost less because the towns would access state funding for a multi-town dispatch center.

"There would be funding for transition," Paulhus said. "But there would also be supplemental funding for operations costs."

Right now, four full-time and one part-time employees run the 24/7 dispatch center at the North Branford Police Department. Opponents of the consolidation proposal are raising concerns about what that might mean for the town's public safety.

"They’re also talking about having a dark police station which is very unsafe," said Terri Nuzzo, president of the AFSCME union chapter representing 18 town employees, including the five dispatchers.

That means no personnel would be on duty at the police station on weekends and after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

"The dispatchers are there in the police station, people walking, in driving in a lot of safety issues," Nuzzo said. "They just need to be in that building."

At Joey Cal’s Deli, longtime North Branford resident Piper Colavolpe said she hopes the dispatchers will stay at the town’s police station.

"We’re a growing town, hopefully, and I think by relocating a safety type thing would be bad for us," Colavolpe said.

After stakeholders in this debate speak at Thursday’s special meeting at the North Branford Intermediate School, the town manager said there will be a public hearing before any decision is made.

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