by Bea Peterson
About sixty Hoosick Falls Village and Hoosick Town residents, Dispatch personnel, Rensselaer County 911 people and a large number of volunteer firefighters attended the Wednesday evening Public Hearing regarding the Village’s Dispatch service held at St. Mary’s Academy.
Hoosick Falls Mayor Matt Monahan opened the meeting by correcting a mistake he made at the last hearing regarding how Dispatch is funded. He said at this meeting that half of the $149,000 cost comes from the general fund, the other half from the water and sewer fund. He said since the last Hearing he and Village Trustees John Hickey and Ann Bornt, accompanied by volunteer firefighter Carlton Coon, toured the County 911 facility. “It was impressive,” he said. He said when a call came in the call site appeared on a screen with an aerial view of the location. Another box appeared advising which ambulance, police or fire department should be notified and it all happened within 55 seconds. If a person cannot speak, the 911 system can still locate them. If a call comes in on a cell phone, that call can be triangulated to within 10 meters.
In addition, the group spent six hours traveling to 22 different locations in the Village checking out the 800 radio band, the Sheriff’s band and low band radio coverage. They only discovered one site where they had a problem with low band reception. The Fairbanks Road tower is the primary source for the County and this area and the LeBarron Road tower is the backup tower. The next testing will be within homes.
“Whatever we decide,” said the Mayor, “it will not be a band-aid, it will be a solution.” Options under consideration are putting a tower on the new Rensselaer St. water tank that will be installed this year or perhaps connecting to the Wilson Hill tower. There could be a dialer box in the Municipal Building, and the Village telephone service could be more automated and streamlined.
Mayor Monahan said people have asked him where the elimination of Dispatch savings would go. He said employee health care costs, maintenance costs and other Village costs are constantly increasing. “This coming [fiscal] year a $110,000 bond payment is due on the water plant. Next year the payment will be $207,000. There is road maintenance that has to be done. Anything over that would be returned to the taxpayers.” He said the Board is striving to drive costs down.
Aid In Finding Houses
Hoosick Rescue Squad President Bill Gaillard reiterated at this hearing what he said at the previous meeting. He stressed how important it is that local dispatchers can so easily advise Rescue personnel as to the location of many hard to find homes in the Town that do not have 911 address numbers on their mailboxes. He said again that often his radio does not work and he must rely on Dispatch for the information.
He said, as Rescue Squad President, he had been told to advise the Village that should Dispatch be dissolved, the Rescue Squad wanted all equipment donated to the Village by the Squad returned. That includes the 100 foot tower on the Municipal Building, encoders, radios, base stations and more.
Another person to speak said she did not want to see the Village do away with Dispatch. She wanted them to keep something “unique to us.”
Another woman said her power went out Saturday morning and she couldn’t get Dispatch on the telephone, so she drove down to the office to find out what she should do about getting her power restored.
No Money From Town
It was noted that most of the communication problems are within Town limits. Mayor Monahan said he had talked with the Town Supervisor and the Town has its own fiscal responsibilities and will not provide any more money for Dispatch. The Mayor said, “We can deal with this within the next year, or we can sit right here five years from now when we’ve spent three quarters of a million dollars more.” He said there are few grants for equipment and none for services. He added that testing has been done in the Town, and County service is 95 percent effective.
Increased Taxes
A Village resident acknowledged these are hard economic times all around. He said many people are making less today than they were making three years ago, yet taxes keep going up. He said 34 percent of his income goes for taxes. “It’s not fair to the Village people,” he added. “We’re already paying the County. It doesn’t make sense in a business world to continue with Dispatch. We all have to tighten our belts.”
Former Village Board Member Margaret Casey commended the Board for having the courage to bring up this issue and facing the fact that the Village can’t afford to keep it up. “We should take advantage of the County service,” she said. “We are bearing the burden of the Town, and it’s not right.”
Hoosick Falls Chief Ted Senecal said that if the firefighters don’t receive the call for a chimney fire or an accident or someone having a stroke, they can’t respond. “We can’t go there if we don’t get the call, and it drops in my lap if we don’t respond.”
The comments then turned to making cuts in other departments, such as Police or the Building Inspector. More comments were made concerning communication flaws that should be addressed. The Mayor made notes of the flaws.
Former Mayor Laura Reynolds said the Village needs to cut costs. She pointed out that most of the Fire Department and EMS issues were Town related. “No process is perfect, and these are tough times,” she said. She added that this is not a
personal issue, but things are going to get worse and any cutbacks are tough. She said Mayor Monahan has done an awesome job to this point.
The Mayor said the Board has absolutely exhausted its options and, “We have to make a decision.”
Representatives from the 911 service said they were confident they could maintain a high level of service. “We do not take our responsibility lightly. When issues are brought to our attention we try to fix them.”
The Inevitable
North Hoosick Fire Chief and a member of the Dispatch staff, Alan Bornt concluded, “This is going to happen. We get the calls, you will get calls. The concern is the Village people. The Police Department will lose its lifeline. Are they willing to do that? There’s a long list of issues. The end of the line is how many use it. It’s been a great thing for 80 years. Hopefully the LeBarron tower won’t go down. We [the fire companies] are just so used to getting information from Dispatch. This is not a Village problem. It was a luxury and asset for (Town) Fire Departments, an important place. It is going to be missed. It’s a mistake to shut it down. Let’s hope it’s not a fatal mistake. It’s a major decision to make for Hoosick Falls people. Too bad more Village people aren’t here. But we are all going survive this.”
Timeline
One of the Dispatchers asked when Dispatch would be shut down. Mayor Monahan said, “We aren’t going rush into making a decision. We don’t even know when we will vote on it.” He added, “We have tried our best to relay as much information as possible to the people by having these Public Hearings. We are going to have to stay within our budget. We don’t have one problem to fix. We have many problems to fix. This is just the first one.” He said the Village is going to lose some luxuries. “Dispatch is a source that has been here for so long, and it is going to be sorely missed.” He agreed that the Village will survive this. “I just wish the Town would get involved.” He said County Legislators Stan Brownell and Lester Goodermote were unable to attend the Hearing but both had told him they would work with the Village and the County on this problem.
The Mayor said, “I understand there is a petition out there. Great. People have been calling me. I’m happy people are taking an interest.” He said he didn’t know if there was a cutoff date on the petition but the Board would like to have time to review it before a meeting. He asked that perhaps they could see it by the end of March.
“I want to thank everyone for coming,” the Mayor said. “This continues to be a learning experience for all of us.”
Take Responsibility
One of the biggest issues to come out of these hearings is that so few houses are adequately marked with the correct 911 street numbers. This in itself would make responding promptly to rescue calls much easier. Bill Gaillard pointed out that numbers should be clearly marked on both sides of a mailbox.