Above: Let Town officials know how you feel about services and resources, and what you would like to see prioritized. (image from survey)
The Town is requesting that residents participate in the annual survey.* Topics cover quality of life, departments and resources, and priorities for what you would like to see officials focus on.
This year, the survey also includes feedback on two issues that Town officials anticipate being topics at the Annual Town Meeting on March 23rd — MBTA Communities Zoning** and Dispatch staffing models. To help them prepare, and to inform other budget discussions, residents are asked to take part in time for them to compile results.
I’ve been asked to share their call to the public:
We need your opinion! Go to sboro.org by Friday March 8th to give Southborough your feedback on schools and town services. This annual survey also solicits your thoughts on the key topics of 1) zoning for MBTA communities and 2) dispatch for emergency services. The results will be compiled and distributed prior to town meeting on March 23rd. Please encourage your friends and neighbors in town to complete this year’s Survey!
The survey, available here, includes residents’ ability to save time by choosing up to several selecting topics they wish to skip over. The survey also includes the ability to use fill-in fields to provide specific feedback on departments/topics.
Some readers may be surprised to see that questions about potentially regionalizing public safety communications will be discussed again at Annual Town Meeting. That will be thanks to Citizen Petition Articles submitted again by Bonnie Phaneuf.
Last year, Phaneuf co-presented a successful non-binding Article to advise the Select Board to withdraw from an agreement to be part of a Regional Emergency Communication Center at an environmental Super Fund site. This year, she will be asking voters to fund hiring additional dispatchers to work at the Southborough Public Safety Building in the next fiscal year.
Doubling dispatch staff to have two dispatchers on duty 24 hours per day was part of Police Chief Newell’s budget request for FY25 (July ’24-June ’25). That request isn’t currently included in the budget the Select Board plans to include in the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Nor is the budget request supported by the Advisory Committee. Officials are hesitant about increasing staff for the department as they continue to research potentially entering a regionalized center. (They are also concerned about the overall tax increase. I plan to write more about that next week.)
Phaneuf has argued that not increasing the staffing creates a liability for the Town. She highlighted that Chief Newell and Fire Chief Achilles reported to the Select Board that the department is currently understaffed to deal with multiple, coinciding emergencies. And the board has acknowledged it would take at least a year to transition to an outside center.
Unlike last year, when the board could have ignored Town Meeting’s vote (but didn’t), this Article will increase the Town budget if it passes, impacting next year’s tax bills.
The survey doesn’t get into all that, but does provide pros and cons of joining a regionalized dispatch center. It then asks residents about their feelings about increasing staffing in Southborough, entering a regionalized center, or maintaining the status quo.
*Editor’s Note: For full disclosure, upon request, I provided feedback on a draft version of the survey before it was publicly issued.
**It’s worth noting that the MBTA Communities zoning section of the survey does share the recently revised version of the map that the Planning Board plans to pursue for the area near the commuter rail.
Here we go again town officials totally ignoring the citizens wishes and vote from last town meeting. You honestly think that by taking the bait from the commonwealth we would not be trapped in a disastrous situation. The state is dangling this option to many towns and as usual it is a trap to control what we can do once the leap is made. I have a lifelong friend who gave over 40 years to the town of Marlborough as a firefighter. Many times we have discussed this issue and he and others have said in every instance the move was a disaster. You talk about budgets and the cost increase to increase staff? You honestly think by relying on the state is going to not cost us ridiculous costs? Wake up look what is going on right now at the state house. Finally the issue of present staff having to reapply and lose all seniority and benefits is unacceptable.
Mike
Yes, I believe that the operating and capital costs of a RECC even without any state subsidy will be less. In fact, we asked one RECC just that and the answer came back that the with no state subsidy the costs to our community would still be less that 1/2 of what we are now spending with state subsidies. This critical function benefits tremendously from economic scale and that is the one thing we can never have in a stand alone operation.
I am as big a fan of Town Meeting as anyone. I would remind you that the midnight vote that was taken on this matter was probably done by less than 100 people including a number of which had a specific interest in the matter (I am not complaining about this just recognizing it.). In contrast each Select Board was elected by between 450 and 670 citizens and as such can reasonably claim a broader mandate.
I opposed the prior arrangement but I when I ran I was clear that we need to continue the evaluation of RECC’s. That is exactly what the Select Board has been doing. The data gathered to date leans heavily in favor of a RECC and some of the issues that were raised have been addressed. There is more work to be done and the pace will pick up between now and the fall when there will likely be a Fall Town Meeting. This matter is likely to be on that agenda but in the end the authority and responsibility for the decision lies with the Select Board.
If you truly believe that this decision would be a disaster for the community I encourage you to bring facts and data to the attention of the Select Board.
Al all my facts are received from past and present first responders! Time and time again it has been a big mistake. Towns in this state are getting duped into take advantage of this offer from the state. The fact that once we went with RECC there is no return. Also using the fact that the vote was taken at the end of the meeting? Why was such and important voting issue put that far back on the agenda?? I applause the citizens that stayed for the whole meeting and voted NO! You people put issues like tree removal ahead of critical issues like RECC?? Really ! Finally the subject that none of you will talk about the fact that present dispatchers will have to reapply and if accepted have to start from scratch with all benefits ! Given the inept actions at our state capitol your going to trust them to provide what the RECC will require in the long run? Also had the town not wasted tons of taxpayers dollars on unneeded projects and just get the projects done with town resources we would have the funds to expand our present Dispatch Center for what they need.
Mike
If you have the names of Chiefs, Town Admin’s/Managers, or Select Board members who made the decision to move to a Regional System and now view that decision as a disaster I would be very interested in speaking with them. Doing due diligence requires assessing the good with the bad. Please feel free to forward that information to me at my town email address which you can find on the town web site.
I do want to set the record straight on one matter. I the light of last years Town Meeting vote advising against recommending Regional Dispatch, I have consistently supported adding dispatchers even if it is only a temporary increase. Town Meeting said they did not like the agreement on offer and now Town Meeting needs to decide if they want to raise the taxes to support a clear need for more robust dispatch services.
As to the ordering of items on the Warrant, I was the one that suggested moving this years Citizens Dispatch Petitions forward to be considered with the Police Budget. The Select Board subsequently agreed and has done so.
Al I understand your concerns about adding taxpayers dollars to provide the updates the police and fire dispatch require. But given the present fiasco going on in this state with billions being wasted on issues that don’t provide the assistance that TAXPAYING Residents require going the route of depending on this state to support a RECC for the longterm. As far as my contacts about the failures of RECC in the past they are retired firefighters and police personnel. I you are questioning my reliability with this issue thats to bad for you. If you were at the town meeting where we voted NO on the issue and I kntyhersow you were you would have heard from multitudes of folks both in the profession and others of their documented evidence of the failures of RECC. You will never hear that from town officials who went that route which is expected. Just fix what is needed in house and be done with it. Also this town needs to stop wasting OUR tax money on ridiculous studies on projects never completed and put it where needed!
Mike
I think you misunderstand me.