Above: Over 1½ years after withdrawing from an IMA with Westborough and Grafton, Southborough is signing back on to join them in forming a RECC. (image edited from agreement and of Town seal)
On Tuesday night, the Select Board voted to sign an amended agreement with Westborough and Grafton to form a public safety dispatch center.
The three towns will work towards opening the Metrowest Regional Emergency Communication Center (MRECC) in Westborough by the summer of 2026.
The board made clear there is still a lot of work to do in order to meet that goal. Chair Kathy Cook said she still had questions about how the center will work, but those could be answered later.
Board members stated that the Agreement was essentially the same as the version the Town had agreed to in 2023. (Scroll to the bottom for details on one change.) That spring, the board withdrew from the agreement during an opt-out period. The vote was on the heels of a Town Meeting in which voters made clear their opposition to the RECC.
Cook referred to the new decision as “done”, since there won’t be an election to change board members until after this opt-out period expires. Earlier this fall, the board successfully secured support to proceed from Special Town Meeting voters
The agreement does have an exit clause for towns who decide to withdraw later in the future, but it comes with potential financial penalties.)
The future center will be run out of the Harvey Building at 20 Phillips Street in Westborough — a historic former school and municipal building. The relocation from the originally planned site on a former toxic superfund site eliminated one of the main public objections to the original agreement.
There had also been objections by dispatchers and their supporters worried about the impacts to their jobs, and community members who worried about the concept of a regional center and having our police station “go dark”.
At the Special Town Meeting, Select Board member Al Hamilton presented the board’s case for the need for entering an agreement for a RECC to improve community safety without exploding costs for taxpayers.
He described going dark as a misnomer. He explained that if you enter the station today, the dispatcher remains behind the glass window and “will not come out”. A member of a RECC on a video screen would have “pretty much the same” abilities as current dispatchers to “summon the required resources to deal with the crisis” and even lock and unlock the doors.
Hamilton made clear the board would probably reenter the MRECC agreement rather than join a different RECC or 911 center. Voters overwhelmingly voted yes on the non-binding article of support.
The agreement still includes a term that, Hamilton had opposed in 2023 as taking away budgetary control for the Town’s share of the costs from Town Meeting voters. At Tuesday’s meeting he quipped:
I would prefer a different funding mechanism but you can’t always get what you want. . . you try sometimes you get what you need.
Hamilton pointed out that there was one significant change since the original agreement. Instead of a member of the Select Board having a seat on the MRECC’s administrative board, that will be designated for the “Chief Administrative Officer”, Town Administrator Mark Purple. Purple will designate Town Treasurer Brian Ballentine to act as Southborough’s CFO on the board.
Cook noted that they’ll expect Purple to provide regular updates in Select Board meetings.
Both the Fire and Police Chief will also be part of the governing organization.
To read the agreement, click here.
What is the cost going be to renovate that abandon facility to be used as the RECC? Also who is responsible for the cost? The State grants?
What happened to the article providing a picture of the proposed site on Philips St. in Westborough for the new RECC location along with my question how are renovations are going to paid?
Mike
The cost estimate is being worked on as we speak. The cost will be paid for by the State. If for some reason the state were to not offer to pay then the RECC would not go forward. I asked that question at a meeting with the other communities and there was no desire to fund the project on their own.
State money is still tax money that we pay. In this case there is a tax on your cell service that funds the States 911 infrastructure. This is the source of the state funds.
The building is not abandoned, as of a few months ago it was being used by several community groups. I toured the building about 10 months ago. It appeared to be structurally sound and is a hansom building from the outside. My understanding is that there will be minimal changes to the exterior. There will clearly be a lot of work done in the interior.
I believe you are referring to this story (which was linked within the above post when I wrote about the relocated site).
Al thanks for your response and I understand about the use of state grants. But with the issues in this state regarding taxpayers waste by our various spending and now our officials are continuing to funnel billions into support of illegal immigrants how much of those state grants will be available down the road. Also you stated earlier our new police and fire departments is not large enough to handle a RECC. After speaking with a dispatcher why not look at what would be needed to place RECC at that location. That facility is newer and much larger than the ones in the other towns!
Mike
I believe that our current dispatch center has room to expand to 3 stations and perhaps 4. In a pinch this might work for the 3 town RECC covering 50,000 people but there would be no room for expansion. I believe that a RECC needs to ultimately cover at least 100,000 people to achieve real economies of scale. That would require at least 8 stations and 10+ would be better for peak demand times.
The Holbrook RECC which covers about 150k people occupies a little under 5000 sq ft and they are looking to expand. The Westborough site has a footprint of about 5000 sq ft with a full apparently dry basement and Attic. I think this facility is the right size for future growth.
We did briefly explore a RECC centered on our station but it did not get very far. We briefly entertained the idea of using our center as a satellite of Holbrook but quickly moved on more promising opportunities. The feedback we have gotten is that the state is not interested in standing up new RECC’s and wants communities to join existing ones. The reality is that the MetroWest RECC is the one that best integrates our dispatch and mutual aid systems.
State 911 has a dedicated stream of revenue via the cell phone tax that is used to establish and operate RECCs. Can the governor and legislature decide to grab this stream of income for another purpose? Yes but I think it unlikely in the near term. It is a risk.
Al I understand the needed space if the RECC was to be placed here in Soiuthborough but to rely on this state to guarantee funds on an ongoing basis is not a good idea! So far this year the State(Maura Healey) has spent over a billion dollars taking care of the illegal migrants!The coming year will easily meet that amount and then some especially if she tries to refuse the Federal government to go thru with the deportations of many of the illegal migrants. A good chance any Federal Grants will be canceled and that will cause big budget issues for the state. Grant cuts will be programs like RECC and MBTA affordable housing within the state. Serious thoughts should be looked at keeping RECC in town and require grants applied there with help from towns involved. Remember once this move to RECC is done there is no going back! This very well could end up being a huge tax burden on the taxpayers. Don’t rely on this state to continually support the program their track record is not that great!
My understanding is that this is the building to be repurposed for the RECC: https://maps.app.goo.gl/UHVZgYXYftks3hLx6. If so, it’s half a block from Westborough’s downtown fire station.